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IN EDUCATION 

EDITED BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY 

PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY 



DIVISION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION 

UNDER THE EDITORIAL DIRECTION 

OF ALEXANDER INGLIS 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



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A HANDBOOK FOR 
RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 



BY 



N. D. SHOWALTER 

PRESIDENT OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 
CHENEY, WASHINGTON 




HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 



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COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY N. D. SHOW ALTER 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



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\ -8 1920 



CAMBRIDGE • MASSACHUSETTS 
U • S • A 



©CI.A570:e?0 



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EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

The district form of school organization and control goes 
back to the beginnings of education at public expense in 
America, and, despite the many recent changes which have 
tended to evolve a larger unit for rural school administra- 
tion, it still remains to-day the most commonly used form 
found in our American States. There are in the United 
States at present approximately 215,000 one-room rural 
schools under the district form of organization and control, 
and for these approximately 250,000 citizens are called 
upon to serve each year as school trustees. In addition, 
other trustees are required to direct the organization of the 
two-room and three-room and four-room village schools 
found in many places in our land. Though the smallest 
administrative unit under our political system to which any 
large powers are entrusted, the school trustees, or school 
directors as they are called in some of our States, neverthe- 
less exercise very important functions under our laws. Each 
little school district has been created by law a body corpo- 
rate and politic, and has the powers of a public corporation 
under the laws of the State. To the board of school trustees 
certain important legal powers have been given. These 
include the right to enter into contracts, to act in the name 
of the district, to sue and be sued, to purchase and hold title 
to property necessary for school purposes, and to employ 
teachers and supervise a school. 

For the teacher in such a school much has been written, 
especially in recent years, and teachers' institutes have for 
long been provided with a view to instructing teachers better 
as to their work. For the school trustee little or nothing of 



vi EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

a helpful nature has so far appeared, and only in very recent 
years have trustees' institutes begun to be held with a view 
to instructing trustees as to the proper handling of their im- 
portant duties. The need for some simple book that would 
serve to help trustees to understand their work has recently 
come to be felt, and the present Handbook is an attempt to 
minister to this new need. The author of the volume, a 
former county superintendent of schools, and for many years 
past president of a State normal school that has taken a 
prominent part in the movement in his State to improve 
rural school conditions, is familiar with the many efforts 
which have been attempted with a view to improving the 
rural school. The Handbook which he has prepared, and 
which is now offered to the public, ought to prove of large 
usefulness to school trustees and school directors in helping 
them to a more intelligent understanding of the important 
work which they have been called upon to perform. 

Ellwood p. Cubberley 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

This is intended as a handbook for rural school trustees, and 
has for its purpose the stimulation of these officers in their 
interest in education to the extent that they will put forth 
the greatest personal effort to accomplish the most possible 
for their respective districts. It is intended that all infor- 
mation given herein shall be authentic, and that all sugges- 
tions shall be based upon the best methods and practices 
now used in administering the common schools of our coun- 
try. The volume is a result of personal investigation of 
plans and practices now in use in the best rural communities 
of the United States. 

Our educational system has grown out of the rural unit 
organized during our early history. At its very beginning, 
it was vital to our stability as a free government, it has per- 
sisted to the present, and its improvement as a national in- 
stitution is now of great public importance. Each rural 
coHimunity has in it the vital elements necessary to a great 
America, and the public school must become the coordi- 
nating organization necessary to fuse these elements into a 
living force. The better the school the more vitalized the 
community must be. The greater the development pro- 
vided for each individual, the more important and the more 
powerful our Nation will surely become. May each school 
officer recognize the fact that he holds the keys to American 
progress, which can only become the sum total of the com- 
bined thinking of all of the people. 

It is not intended that this volume should represent some 
original plan for school organization and administration, 
worked out wholly differently from that now found in our 



viii AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

best schools. On the other hand, it is purposely intended 
to point out the proven way to the best success through the 
means which have been tried in actual practice. The author 
has called upon many teachers and educators for sugges- 
tions, many of which have been freely used with the hope of 
making the contents of greatest practical value. 

The author especially wishes to acknowledge the help 
which came directly from the members of his own faculty, 
who either offered suggestions which have been freely used 
or gave assistance in preparing one or more of the chapters. 
In this connection the following names should specifically 
be mentioned: F. E. Barr, George E. Craig, Alma A. Dobbs, 
Mary Ensfield, Josephine FitzGerald, George W. Frasier, 
Frances Johnston, Curtis Merriman, Bertha Most, and 
George H. Yost. 

I also wish to make especial acknowledgment of the help 
received from Mr. Earl W. Morrison, a school architect with 
offices in Spokane, Washington, for his assistance in pre- 
paring the plans and drawings for most of the type-schools 
given in this volume. 

N. D. Showalter 

Cheney, Washington 

January, 1920 



CONTENTS 

Editor's Introduction v 

Author's Preface vii 

A Foreword xvii 

Chapter I. The Public School as a National Asset . . 1 

Government inventory of education — Evidence of education 
worth — Parents' recognition of the organized school — Nation's 
use of the school — Free government depends upon intelligent 
citizenship — Civic responsibilities — Faith in education — The 
school, "The Birthright of the Children" — School purpose at 
its beginning — Change in requirements — Education explained 

— Larger responsibilities to the school — Need for larger subsi- 
dies. 

Chapter II. General Plan of Organization ... 8 

Schools administered by States — Beginning National subsidies 

— Effect of subsidies on the older States — War and education 

— National responsibilities — Tendency toward non-political 
boards — State boards as unifying element — State executive 
officer — County, "the unit of administration" — District 
units — Joint responsibilities of home and school. 

Chapter III. The School Election and choosing 
School Officers 18 

Requirements for good citizenship — Responsibilities in repre- 
sentative government — Means of political expression — How to 
determine National standards — The school in association with 
government — Facts disclosed in school-election records — Dif- 
ficulty in securing qualiSed officers — Suggested remedies. 



Chapter IV. Work of the Organized School Board . 

Requirements of school officers — Some common mistakes — 
Good organization and good records — Importance of board work- 
ing as a unit — Need for a trustee's policy for use of buildings 
— Inspection of school premises — School spirit and leadership. 



iii) 



X CONTENTS 

Chapter V. Resources and Finances . . . .,35 

Financing as adopted by different States — Large units better for 
financing — Local district tax — Hoav buildings and equipment 
are provided — Bonds necessary to financing — The annual 
budget sj'stem — \'ouchers plan of payment — Keeping public 
records. 

Chapter VI. The School Site 43 

Choosing new site or improving the old — The relation of building 
site to the school — Attractive school grounds — Size of school 
site — Influence of surroundings upon children — Advantage of 
"Arbor Day" — Impressive surroundings. 

Chapter VII. The School Plant 50 

Buildings composing school plant — Trees and shrubbery in the 
plan — Secure landscape gardener — The " Teacherage " or school 
cottage — Advantage in securing trained teachers — Need for 
school gymnasium — Suggestions for buildings — Size of school 
buildings — Details for buildings — Proper lighting — Provi- 
sions for constructions — The color scheme — Relationship be- 
tween physical and mental child — Pure air and proper ven- 
tilation — Installation of toilets — Water-pressure system — 
Drinking-fountains and lavatories — Water for fire protection 
and irrigation. 

Chapter VIII. Furniture and Apparatus .... 75 

Schoolroom atmosphere — School comforts and their attractions 
— School furnishings essential — Furnishings desirable — The 
school kitchenette — Essential apparatus — Desirable appara- 
tus — Special apparatus — Playground apparatus — Good house- 
keeping in the schoolroom — Local firms most reliable. 

Chapter IX. Schoolroom Decorations 85 

/Esthetic tastes developed in all children — Furniture and its 
harmonious effect — Worth of beautiful surroundings — Handi- 
cap in artistic progress — Influence of decorations — Interior ar- 
rangement by teacher and pupils — Properly kept blackboards — 
Value of posters, programs, notices — Pictures for decoration — 
Life-story of picture necessary — Good framing an advantage — 
Pottery and the use of vases — Relationship of the beautiful and 
the good. 



CONTENTS xi 

Chapter X. Selecting the Teacher , . . • . 94 

The teacher's influence — Special training necessary — Normal 
school as training center — Higher requirements in school — How 
to secure good teachers — Proper procedvu'e of investigation — 
General recommendations of little value — Standardizations nec- 
essary — Reception of teacher — Worth of cooperation. 

Chapter XI. Special Official Duties . . . , . 103 

Minimum time, maximum efficiency — Yearly school calendar — 
Bids and contracts — Rules and regulations governing official 
acts — Opening of school — Rights of petition — Care of defec- 
tive youth — The lawful contract — Keeping of register — Offi- 
cial forms. 

Chapter XII. The Daily Program 109 

Need for definite schedule — A workable program for each day 
• — Important factors considered in program — Correct classifi- 
cations — Length of school year a factor — Adjustments of pro- 
gram often necessary — Combination of class work — Alternating 
subjects — Substitution of subject-matter — Direction of seat 
work. 

Chapter XIII. The Home and School in Cooperation . 119 

Alliance of home and school — Transition from home to school — 
Personal association necessary — The teacher a social leader — 
A new point of view evolved — Parent-teacher movement — Aim 
and purpose of mothers' organization — The schoolhouse a meet- 
ing-place — Recommendations for organizations — Varied pro- 
grams. 

Chapter XIV. Rural School Supervision .... 127 

Attention given to rural education — Administration and super- 
vision different — Supervision in city systems — Disadvantages 
of small unit — Impossibility expected — Local welfare versus 
national interest — Two plans suggested — Good roads an ele- 
ment — Grange and other farm organizations investigate plans 
— School plants greatly changed. 

Chapter XV. Consolidation of Rural Schools . . .134 

Hov/ education has evolved — Now considered universal need — 
Increased interests — Unquestionable support — A progressive 
community — Careful consideration necessary — Limitations of 



xii CONTENTS 

one-room school — Important items considered — How to reach 

a decision — Means for transporting pupils. 

Chapter XVI. Redirected Education 147 

Complaints lodged against school — Investigation an outgrowi;h 

— Changes in plans and policies — Child's development of first 
importance — Coordination of study and work — Personal adap- 
tation — Combining facts and interest — The child's social needs 

— Relation of school to community work — The church an im- 
portant agency — The fully developed individual — What educa- 
tion must include. 

Chapter XVIl. Practical Education 154 

Early education defined — Individual differences — Applied prin- 
ciples made practical — The type and character of work — Com- 
bination courses for grades — Better understanding of surround- 
ings — The well-balanced curriculum — Application of knowl- 
edge to immediate needs — Education and the growth of nations 

— Constructive criticism. 

Chapter XVIII. Manual Training and Home Economics IGI 

Results from study — Development necessarily varied — Aim ^d 
manual arts teaching — Personal characteristics developed — ' 
Manual arts, as vitalizing element — The keynote of the subject 
— How determine usefulness — Organization and division of work 

— What to include — Work outline for girls. 

Chapter XIX. The Hot Lunch and its Value . . .169 

General approval given to plan — Lunch-basket a necessity — 
Effect of hurried eating — How to make a beginning — A 
mother's appreciation — Opportunity it affords — Interest stim- 
ulated in children — Neon lunch common meeting-ground — 
Meaning of efficiency — Home-making duties. 

Chapter XX. Health Education and Medical Inspec- 
tion 176 

Child welfare — Health supervision in schools — Program of 
work — Sense-training essential — Health and work — Home 
study and heal'ch — Precautions necessary — Three views for con- 
sideration — Examination may vary — Five primary defects — 
Ansemia common among children — "Poor food" has varied 
meanings — Sunshine and sleep — Personal history and family 



CONTENTS xiii 

record — Retardation caused by defects — Parents should coop- 
erate — Carriers of disease — Hygiene made practical — Spe- 
cialist must have tact — Habits valuable — Incentives best ap- 
peal — Moral hygiene and conduct. 

Chapter XXI. Citizenship in a Democracy .... 192 

Responsibility of individual — Ballot-box means of expression — 
Influence governing voting — Superiority of men — Liberty, its 
application — Nation, how characterized — Contributing agen- 
cies — Government individualistic — Equality of men — Edu- 
cation of fundamental — Program of education — Ideals needed. 

Appendices 

List OF Books FOR Further Reading 201 

Score Card to be used in measuring School Success 202 

General Rating-Sheet for Standard Rural Schools . 203 

Standard Rating-Sheet for Rural Schools . . . 207 

Suggestions for County Trustees' Meetings or for 
CoMiNiuNiTY Meetings 209 

Index 211 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

A Good One-Teacher Rural-School Plant . . Frontispiece 

A Common Type of Schoolhouse Site ..... 44 

A Better Type of School Site 45 

A Small "Teacherage" and a One-Room Rural School . 52 

A Two-Room Teachers' Cottage 53 

A Three- or Five-Room Teachers' Cottage .... 54 

A Four- or Five-Room Teachers' Cottage . ... 55 

A Simple Outdoor Gymnasium 5^ 

A Simple and Satisfactory One-Room Rural-School 

Building 58 

Another Type of One-Room Rural-School Building . 59 
A Simple Two-Room Rural-School Building ... 60 
A Very Desirable Type of Rural-School Building . . 61 

The Model Rural-School Building 63 

An Interior View of a Classroom Q5 

Heating and Ventilating Plan for a Small School . . 67 
Cross-Section of the Ventilating Plan . . . . .69 
Plan for a Toilet where Running Water is not avail- 
able 71 

Types of Modern Consolidated Schools . . . .140 

Using the Old School Building 140 

Map Showing School Consolidation in One Indiana 

County 142 

Different Means for Transporting Pupils . . . .144 

Manual Training in the Rural School 164 

The Domestic Science and Sev/ing Room . . . .164 
The Hot Noon Lunch in the Rural School . . . .172 

The Wrong Kind of School Toilet 180 

Simple Health Inspection 180 

Health Defects in City and Country Children Com- 
pared 187 



A FOREWORD 

CREED FOR THE SCHOOL TRUSTEE OR THE 
SCHOOL DIRECTOR 

I BELIEVE in the directors, the devoted men of to-day and yes- 
terday; that whatever they sow the community will reap. 

I BELIEVE the director should visit the school often, consult with 
the teacher, advise with the parents, and cooperate with any 
power that will advance the cause of education in his school. 

I BELIEVE the teacher makes the school; that no minted coin is 
small enough to pay for the services of a poor one, and none too 
rich for the real teacher. 

I BELIEVE in the hopes and ideals of the efficient teacher; in her 
sympathy and power for good; in her enthusiasm and good cheer 
that leads her on. 

I BELIEVE in the innocence of childhood, in sunshine, in laughter, 
in the castles that fancy rears; in the purity of child life, in the 
removal of temptation; in the suppression of vice and crime. 

I BELIEVE there is a problem for every day I live; that opportu- 
nity knocks at my door continually; that progress and good citizen- 
ship demand that I stay at my post of duty. 

I BELIEVE that ignorance is a tax; that the unskilled represent 
lost opportunity; that lack of training and proper development 
represent waste. 

I BELIEVE that our greatest problem is the proper training of our 
generation; that interest and dollar marks will not weigh in the 
balance with our ideals of worth and character; that our hopes and 
fears must still center around the fountains of love and laughter. 

I BELIEVE in civic pride; in community life; and in the responsi- 
bility of the individual; in public opinion; in the open forum; in 
the rule of the people; and that their voice is the voice of God. 
Amen. 

Author unhioicn 



A HANDBOOK 
FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

CHAPTER I 

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL AS A NATIONAL ASSET 

Our Government recently made an inventory of all of its 
assets. Public school education was placed near the top of 
the list. Wiile this is the first time that definite recognition 
has been given to public school education nationally, the 
people have given evidence of its worth by placing larger and 
larger responsibilities upon it with complete faith in its abil- 
ity to respond. They have committed to it their children, 
knowing full well that it would stamp upon their young 
minds indelible impressions which would characterize them 
through life. Parents, too, have recognized the organized 
school as a means of securing a better understanding of the 
Nation's requirements. The Nation in turn has used the 
public school, because of its vast organization, to send prop- 
aganda broadcast to its millions of people. The school has 
shown itself to be the open portal to the home life. It has 
already been proved to be the greatest influence in securing 
the cooperation of community life with that of the Nation's 
needs. 

It was clearly recognized by the founders of our free Re- 
public that the maintenance of such a government must de- 
pend upon intelligent citizenship. If the ruling power be 
inherent in the people, then an educated citizenship is neces- 
sary to progress. "Education" here is used in its broadest 
sense, meaning a clear comprehension of life's needs with an 



2 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

earnest desire to give this in full measure to all of the people. 
In order to attain this end, each one must be rounded out to 
his highest development. Each one must be prepared to 
assume his portion of responsibility. If mistakes are made, 
all must suffer the consequences alike. Of great importance, 
then, is the thinking of each individual citizen. Good judg- 
ment and careful reasoning are essential requisites of each 
person. A democratic form of government can rest safe 
only with a people thus endowed, and can progress only to 
the extent that this conception, and the understanding of 
its own general welfare, prevail. 

If each person has civic responsibilities, there must be 
some means of determining just what these are. Each one 
must not only know the principles upon w^hich our Govern- 
ment is based, but must be given the ability to help maintain 
those principles and to assist in carrying them to their high- 
est development. This civic responsibility must be rein- 
forced by a clearer conception of social relationship and of 
moral obligations. The word "government" represents an 
association of peoples, and the determining influences must 
carry out the idea of happiness and welfare for the entire 
group. Social intercourse of the right character means 
racial development of the highest order. Moral ideals form 
the basis for both civic and social improvement. Upon this 
rests the honor of the Nation. Conceptions of right and 
wrong, of truth and honesty, of honor and virtue, govern our 
actions and influence all of our decisions. In a democracy, 
then, there must be national conscience and national respon- 
sibility — all of which turns back to the people themselves, 
upon whom all responsibility falls and in whom all con- 
science exists. 

In order to insure universal education of the right sort our 
public schools were inaugurated. Through this means per- 
sonal development is guaranteed and the basis for independ- 



PUBLIC SCHOOL A NATIONAL ASSET S 

ent government is maintained. Faith in public education as 
an enterprise is evidenced by the growing interest which the 
people have shown in it through the years, by the fact that 
greater financial aid has been given each year, and by the 
further fact that it has been extended to include all the dif- 
ferent types of human development, offering opportunity for 
technical and research study as well as providing a recog- 
nized general training. The school has often been called 
"the birthright of the children," and it is not an uncommon 
thing for parents to make sacrifices in order that their chil- 
dren may have the full benefit of the school direction. The 
State has shown a determination to protect this right of the 
child by enacting compulsory educational laws. These laws 
vary in strictness in the different States, but usually require 
children to attend school until they shall have had at least a 
common school education and until they are sixteen years 
of age. Some States also require that all children be re- 
quired to continue even after this age or attainment unless 
profitably employed. Through such laws the State aims to 
protect the children and at the same time to foster inde- 
pendent citizenship for all its people. 

The pubhc school was first organized to supplement the 
teachings of the home and the church. It was maintained 
during the winter months when the children could really be 
of little help to the parents. Children were required to work 
at an early age because of the difficulties surrounding pio- 
neer life, and because httle machinery, which in recent years 
has saved both time and labor, had come into use. The 
schools at first represented very elementary work, and the 
teaching in many cases was imperfect. However, this insti- 
tution proved its adaptation to the ever-changing condi- 
tions and won for itself universal approval and the unquali- 
fied support of the people. 

The few short months allotted the school at first have been 



4 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

extended until now the "all-year school" is being advo- 
cated. Many city communities are now offering such ad- 
vantages to their children, and the plan is sure to be gener- 
ally adopted in time. As the three months' school grew into 
the six months' term, and the six months' term was extended 
to the nine and ten months' requirement, so also is the all- 
year school most certain to become an organized necessity 
in our final plan for educational work. This does not mean, 
of course, that each child must go during the entire year, but 
rather it offers the opportunity for continuous educational 
development, wherever that is possible, and also it offers a 
varied educational opportunity, suitable to different kinds 
of training and development, in addition to the civic, the 
social, and the moral training which has usually been recog- 
nized as a first requirement. 

New subject-matter has been injected into the curricula 
from year to year, until school work now represents a work- 
shop of the most practical character, in addition to the men- 
tal development which was once thought to be the only re- 
quirement. The three H's, representing the head, the hand, 
and the heart, have supplanted the old idea of the three R's 
which first formed the required elements. To discover a 
child's personal characteristics and to develop him so that 
he may become a useful member of society, is now consid- 
ered as important as to direct his thinking and reasoning 
powers. Or, putting it in another way, we may say that the 
application of knowledge is now made a part of the school's 
work. 

Education has its rootlets centered deep in the public 
school system, and depends in a large measure upon this 
institution to formulate the basic elements which develop 
into the larger, fuller, and more complete life needs and 
possibilities. 

Since the whole child, mental, physical, and moral, must 



PUBLIC SCHOOL A NATIONAL ASSET 5 

go to school, it has been found necessary to make this insti- 
tution responsible for the entire unity of his development. 
An individual must have a good physique in order to be a 
valuable member of society. Proper direction during child- 
hood insures development of strength, and gives the right 
conception of health as well. One cannot be strong unless 
one's body is free from disease, and it is necessary to exercise 
proper care in this direction throughout one's life. All sense 
training must be done during childhood, and habits of the 
right sort should be formed during youth; hence this is the 
all-important season for instilling principles that will insure 
health and strength throughout the years. More and more 
are the schools coming to recognize the need of using the 
greatest care in directing this work, and each year additional 
responsibilities come in administering health education. 

The time has passed when the teaching of a little physiol- 
ogy and hygiene sufficed, for this proved of little value be- 
cause of its failure to make an impression which insured per- 
sonal application. In the best schools hygiene is now taught 
by doing, and the lessons taught are immediately applied to 
the personal needs of the children. Results can be measured 
every day, and the children are forming habits during this 
impressionable period which will cling to them through life. 
This work is the more important when we recognize it as 
preventive teaching, since our best physicians consider this 
the fundamental basis of good health. This adds to the na- 
tional value of the public school as an institution, and health 
education work w^ill be emphasized and directed more care- 
fully in all of the schools as its value becomes more fully 
known. 

It may well be added that much corrective work is also 
being done in many of the schools. Teachers generally are 
being taught to detect physical weakness and to cooperate 
with parents in determining the best means of giving relief. 



6 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

Through medical inspection many discoveries have been 
made which have aided not only in improving the health of 
the children, but also in furthering at the same time their 
mental development. The early years of the child's life 
seem to be the age of preparation, the time during which he 
shall fill his storehouse with abundant energy, the time dur- 
ing which he shall convert personal characteristics into po- 
tential forces. The Nation is wise, then, in concerning itself 
deeply in the development and general welfare of each child 
during the formative period of his life, because such direction 
insures a more useful member of society. 

Last but not least of the responsibilities now assigned the 
school is that of moral training. Morality is really a growth, 
and marks the individual strongest who for a long period of 
time is exposed to the highest and best principles of life and 
living. The proper use of knowledge is really fundamental 
in education, because a mind well developed, but used for 
destructive purposes, becomes a greater menace to society 
than ignorance itself. It is important, therefore, to teach 
by example the highest moral principles and to place an 
environment about the school and about child-life in gen- 
eral which will be conducive to the best things. During 
the child's early years moral principles may be established 
through imitation. It is most important, therefore, to fur- 
nish him with the best, as types from which to copy. 

The home life should establish the first standards, but 
these must be supplemented in the school, where often 
deeper impressions are made on a child than through any 
other medium. The entire atmosphere of the school, then, 
should be such as to make impressions of the right sort, and 
each community should place upon the school responsibili- 
ties which will insure moral teaching both by precept and by 
example. Any influence destructive to high ideals should be 
removed from the school premises, and should not be per- 



PUBLIC SCHOOL A NATIONAL ASSET 7 

mitted in any neighborhood, because nobiHty of character 
is one of the first elements to bring happiness and insure 
equaHty and fraternity among men. 

How important it is for a nation to be able to call forth 
strong men when the principles of government need to be 
maintained! How valuable it is to have wise counselors 
among the people in times of stress ! How necessary it is to 
have good organizers to formulate the massive strength into 
a combined force! How very necessary it is to have the 
scientist who peers deep into the mysteries of the unknown 
and discovers the laws which influence our progress ! All of 
these, combined with the universal intelligent citizenship, 
represent every phase of human achievement, and with 
earnest, honest convictions in undertaking what is best for 
all mankind — such citizenship is the greatest asset that any 
nation can have. Inlierent, then, in the people themselves 
do we find life's greatest possibihties. To bring this forth 
means '* education" in its biggest and broadest sense. 

With all these things, and many more not mentioned, giv- 
ing evidence of the worth of public education, it is quite 
certain that greater educational subsidies will be provided 
in future years, and that the pubhc school will be able to 
serve in a larger capacity the needs of a free people. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What evidence have we that education really pays? 

2. Is it proper to tax all property, including public utilities, for educa- 
tional purposes? 

3. Are our public schools improving as rapidly as the growth and devel- 
opment of our country demands? 

4. What can you suggest as the most important improvement which 
could be made by the public school as it now exists? 

5. To what extent should the school be held responsible for the moral 
training and for the physical and health education of the children? 



CHAPTER II 
GENERAL PLAN OF ORGANIZATION 

The Nation and the States 

The National Government made no provision for education 
at the time our Federal Constitution was adopted. This 
was an intended omission, because it was strongly believed 
at that time that the schools should be directed and adminis- 
tered entirely by the States. In the President's Cabinet, 
therefore, as it was originally organized, and as it has been 
rearranged through the years, no Department of Education 
has been established. There has been a growing sentiment 
in favor of such a Department, and with the new recognition 
given to education nationally there is every reason why such 
a provision should be made. Now that the common school 
system has proved its worth, and has been recognized as a 
national enterprise, there is every reason why it should be 
fostered and harmonized in a way better to meet the needs 
of the National Government. 

In the early part of the nineteenth century, when Ohio 
was admitted as a State (1802), there was a provision in- 
serted into its Constitution which required that section 
number sixteen in each township be set aside as a subsidy for 
public school education. In accepting this Constitution the 
Congress of the United States established a precedent, which 
continued as a definite provision in each state constitution 
for ahnost fifty years. It should be stated that before the 
admission of Ohio several of the States made no provision 
for public education in their constitutions, while others made 
only slight mention as to the establishment of public educa- 
tion. Our national policy in education then really had its 



GENERAL PLAN OF ORG.WIZATION 9 

beginning with the approval of the Constitution of the State 
of Ohio. 

Nearly fifty years later, when California was admitted to 
the Union, there was a provision in its Constitution that 
two sections, sixteen and thirty-six, be set aside in that 
State as a land grant for the common schools. For forty 
years this precedent continued to be recognized in the case 
of each State applying for admission, with the exception of 
the State of West Virginia, admitted during the Civil War 
in 1863, whose Constitution made no provision for a public 
school land grant. Three States, namely: Utah, Arizona, 
and New Mexico, admitted since 1890, have provisions for 
four sections, two and thirty-two having been added to the 
old provision. 

There were other types of subsidies provided for by some 
of the States, but these vary so much that each individual 
case cannot be cited. This additional provision, provided 
for in the Ilhnois Constitution, may serve as a type: 

Five per cent of the net proceeds of the lands lying within the 
State of Illinois which shall be sold by Congress, from the first day 
of July, 1819, after deducting all expenses incident to the same, 
shall be reserved for the purposes following, namely : two fifths to 
be disbursed under the direction of Congress in making roads 
leading to the State; the residue to be appropriated, by the Legis- 
lature of the State, for the encouragement of learning, of which 
one sixth part shall be exclusively bestowed on a college or uni- 
versity. 

That thirty-six sections, or one entire township, which shall be 
designated by the President of the United States, together with 
the one heretofore reserved for that purpose, shall be reserved 
for the use of a seminary of learning, and vested in the legislature 
of the State, to be appropriated solely to the use of such seminary 
by said legislature. 

The older States, which constituted the Union before the 
admission of Ohio, soon began to sense the value of these 



10 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

land subsidies, and adopted within their respective legis- 
latures the following resolution: 

Resolved that each of the United States have an equal right to 
participate in the benefit of the public lands as the common prop- 
erty of the Union ; and that the States in whose favor Congress has 
not yet made appropriations of lands for the purpose of education, 
are entitled to such appropriations as will be in just proportion 
with those heretofore made in favor of the other States. 

After much discussion by the National Congress, and 
after many different plans were proposed, this matter was 
finally dropped indefinitely until 1862, when Senator Morrill 
introduced a bill in Congress providing a land subsidy for 
the encouragement of agricultural teaching and scientific 
engineering training. With the approval of this bill a new 
precedent was established, following which came the estab- 
lishment of the Land Grant colleges and institutions for the 
encouragement of agriculture and the industrial sciences. 
This led to the provision in the Constitution of the later- 
admitted States for large land grants for institutions of 
higher learning. Subsequently, too, the Hatch Fund (1887) 
and the Adams Fund (1890) were created by Congress, to 
encourage agricultural experimentation and teaching; the 
Smith-Lever Fund was provided (1914) to inaugurate ex- 
tension work in agriculture and home economics; and the 
Smith-Hughes Fund (1917) for the encouragement of indus- 
trial training and agricultural work in institutions below 
ths college grade. 

The worth of education to the Government has become so 
apparent during the recent great World War that many im- 
portant changes are sure to come in the near future. A 
great movement for the establishment of a Department of 
Education in the National Cabinet has been launched. Con- 
gress has in so manj^ ways expressed its interest that it 
seems now only necessary to present it in proper form in 



GENERAL PLAN OF ORGANIZATION 11 

order to have the establishment of such a department ap- 
proved. There is every indication, too, that a large sum of 
money, involving many millions, will soon be provided by 
Congress to be divided equitably among the States for the 
furthering of education to meet new specific demands. It is 
likely that a part of such fund will be set aside for types 
of education which will standardize basic requirements for 
citizenship, divided according to the needs of each of the 
States. It is certain, too, that a large portion will be pro- 
vided for "Teachers' Training Courses," because therein lies 
the basis for educational advancement. If all teachers are 
thoroughly trained and are required to meet standards of 
efficiency and adaptation to school work, then and only then 
will such large revenues appropriated bring adequate re- 
turns in results obtained. Equitable subdivisions of such 
fund will care for the newer types of education which now 
seem necessary in meeting new ideals and providing for 
our ever-changing requirements. 

In assuming larger financial responsibility, the Federal 
Government is certain to assume closer direction of our edu- 
cational development, and through its cooperation greater 
harmony will be brought about between the different States. 
Of course the larger responsibility must continue to devolve 
upon the individual States, and therefore the main directing 
force of administration will remain there. Already the plan 
in each State is so well estabhshed, and the general policies 
for improvement so well in hand, that the plan of the Na- 
tional Government need be coordination and cooperation 
rather than direct administration. 

State Educational Organization 
The plan of school administration and the purpose of its 
organization have been quite similar for each of the States. 
This is because the newer States copy from the older ones. 



12 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

The popularity of the franchise system made it easy for the 
school to be directed by this plan. State, county, and dis- 
trict school officers have in accordance with this provisior 
been chosen by popular vote of the people. Because of thi' 
the general plan of public school administration has becL 
considered political. This is really not true in fact, though 
the state and county officers have usually been nominated 
and elected by political parties. District officers have gen- 
erally been chosen by the electors of the district, but the 
school election in the several States has usually been set at 
a different time from the general election in order that po- 
litical consideration might be eliminated fromit. In recent 
years, too, state and county officers have, by common con- 
sent, been somewhat separated from political control, and 
efforts have been made to introduce efficiency into all school 
work even though subject to political control. 

The growing interest in the public school as an institution 
closely allied to the people's personal interest has recently 
caused a strong sentiment to arise in favor of making their 
controlHng interests completely non-political. Several States, 
through legislative enactment, have provided for non-polit- 
ical State Boards of Education, to which authority is given 
to control and manage public education throughout the 
State. A State Commissioner of Education is then chosen by 
such a board, to take the place of the elected State Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction. The County-Unit plan, too, 
has been adopted in many States. This provides for the 
election of a County Board of Education, by the people ol 
the whole county, and this Board in turn selects and ap- 
points the chief county school officer, and provides for a 
reorganization of the school districts of the county into 
imits better suited to meet the new educational needs. The 
States have not generally accepted this proposition, though 
it has been partially adopted in various modified forms by a 



GENERAL PLAN OF ORGANIZATION 13 

number of the States, and the tendency to beHeve in the 
general non-poHtical principle is steadily growing. 

A State Board of Education is usually provided by the 
several States as a unifying element and organized upon a 
basis somewhat different in character. In some States the 
members are wholly appointive. In others there are provi- 
sions for an ex-officio membership, which includes the state 
school administrative officer as ex-officio chairman, and the 
heads of state institutions as regular members. In addi- 
tion to these there are often added appointive members, for 
the purpose of better representing the entire school system. 
These appointive members are usually chosen to represent 
the elementary and the high schools. In some States a lay 
board is chosen with administrative duties alone, while in 
a few States a combined board, representing lay members 
and members representing educational departments, are pro- 
vided for. 

In every case this board holds an important position and 
special powers are given to it. It serves as a unifying ele- 
ment to the whole system of education within the State. It 
is called upon to hold regular meetings during the year, at 
which time it sits as an educational council for the purpose 
of discussing and settling the larger educational problems 
involving state needs. Specific duties of this board are 
usually set forth in the school law in each of the individual 
States, and the general policies of the board may be found 
in the educational report of the State. 

The executive officer for the State is usually known as 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, or State Commis- 
sioner of Education. The latter is the name applied by 
States using the appointive rather than the elective system. 
The former has always been an elective officer, chosen from 
among the citizenship of the State. In order to meet the 
new demands placed upon this institution of the people. 



14 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

the executive officer must hold the confidence of the depart- 
ments under his supervision, and be able to inspire them 
with high motives for the common good. He must be 
broad and liberal in his rulings, and just and fair in his deci- 
sions. This state officer should be a leader in educational 
thought, and should be able to organize the work of the 
State into cooperative units for general improvement. A 
definite policy should be worked out for vitalizing the work 
of the smaller units, and the least district of the State should 
feel the directing influences of the State's well-organized 
plan and motive. Since it is incumbent upon every citizen 
to see to it that the educational system should provide for 
the best opportunity in each community, the work must be 
started well by first providing ^n executive officer of large 
insight and executive capacity. 

County Educational Organization 

The county usually forms a secondary means for school 
administration within the State, and the County Superin- 
tendent of Schools, or County School Commissioner, becomes 
its administrative officer. This office is of great importance 
to school development because it represents a unit in size 
which more nearly responds to the powers of control of the 
people. Since it is agreed that true leadership is necessary 
to progress, it is very important that this office be filled by 
an individual possessing qualities of rcal merit. He must be 
able to think and to feel in the terms of the common people. 
He must win their confidence to the degree that they will 
follow his carefully laid plans. The county officer's work 
must be supervisory, as well as administrative. He must 
furnish inspiration for teachers and school officers, and must, 
in a general way, supervise the work of the schoolroom in the 
interest of the pupils. His counsel must be w^ise and his 
judgment sure in deahng with the many problems which 



GENERAL PLAN OF ORGANIZATION 15 

arise under his jurisdiction. To carry forth this work in a 
satisfactory manner requires a man or a woman thoroughly 
trained not only in teaching, but in modern educational 
ideas as well. In addition to this he or she must possess 
adaptability in character, honesty of purpose, and a desire 
to serve in the largest and best manner. The personal direc- 
tion needed in this oflSce requires leadership and personal 
vision, and the people of the county should require for this 
position one who has the highest qualifications. 

District Educational Organization 

In a majority of our States the county is broken up into 
smaller units, known as school districts. Each of these has 
specific boundary lines, and a plan of organization adaptable 
to community work. The local Board of Trustees here be- 
come the potent factor in making the school standards repre- 
sent the wishes of the people of the district. The Board 
stands for the local community, the interests of its neighbors 
and friends, and the well-being of the children whom the 
members personally know. Each act of the Board may be 
seen by all those whose wishes it represents. It has been 
chosen to carry into effect the neighborhood's wishes in con- 
nection with the school's best development. It has been 
chosen to direct the spirit of the community in an educa- 
tional way. Each member must be willing to carry what- 
ever responsibilities are necessary for the common good of 
the school. Each one must be broad-minded and liberal, 
yet fearless in doing his duty. As a directing board it must 
be willing to listen to suggestions, and to bear such crit- 
icism as usually comes to those who accept public respon- 
sibility. 

' Each member of this Board of Trustees or Directors ought 
to support and usually does support the educational leaders 



16 HxVNDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

of the district. Each member should be chosen by the peo- 
ple with that thought in mind. It should be considered a 
position of trust, with duties attached to it which are of the 
greatest and gravest concern to the neighborhood's well- 
being and to the children's education. Required work 
should be done cheerfully, even though there be no tangi- 
ble compensation provided. Heavy responsibihties which 
sometimes come to this board should be accepted without 
complaint. The best compensation after all is a personal 
knowledge of well-rendered service, because the greatest 
things come to mankind through personal sacrifices freely 
made for others. Life's duties accepted graciously always 
improve the individual, and officers who have been faithful 
through the years have made in spirit and in purpose a 
contribution to be commended. 

Our best fathers and mothers are busy people, but never 
too busy to consider what is best for their children. The 
time quickly passes when the home holds the direction of the 
child. Almost as a baby from its mother's arms the child 
at six years of age enrolls in the public schools. The par- 
ents' interests are now divided between two institutions, for 
their child has come to be the subject of both. Early in the 
morning it must leave the parental household and spend the 
best part of its waking day with the children of the neigh- 
borhood in that common institution, the public school, 
which has so endeared itseK to the hearts of all thoughtful 
parents. Each home has a deeper interest as it is personally 
represented in the school. So the most important responsi- 
bility of the community is to make the school a worthy 
educational center. 



GENERAL PLAN OF ORGANIZATION 17 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. Should the National Government assume a greater financial respon- 
sibility for public education? Why? 

2. How has the Nation already shown its interest in our public schools? 

3. Give some ways whereby the school system can assist the National 
Government directly. 

4. Has it proved advantageous for the National Government to delegate 
the control of education to the individual States, allowing each State 
to shape its own laws and direct its own work as seemed best suited 
to its needs, or not? Why? 

5. Have the States failed in any way to measure up to our national needs 
in carrying out their individual plans for education? 



CHAPTER III 

THE SCHOOL ELECTION AND CHOOSING SCHOOL 

OFFICERS 

Every man and woman living in this country should have a 
very clear conception of civic responsibilities. They should 
be familiar with our governmental plan of organization, and 
should know the principles set forth in our National Con- 
stitution. To be a good citizen of any country requires 
accurate knowledge of citizenship requirements and a will- 
ingness to meet the responsibihties in full measure. One 
must be in accord with the foundation plan in order to ally 
himself unreservedly to these basic principles. True loy- 
alty is more than an outward expression and can be properly 
voiced only by conscientious approval. 

Representative government has been a long time coming 
to the civilized world, and even now many well-disposed 
people do not understand the meaning of "Freedom" in its 
largest sense. When we speak of a government "of the 
people, for the people, and by the people," we must not for- 
get that there are now more than one hundred millions of us. 
We cannot all speak directly upon every question, but our 
representative plan enables us to speak through those whom 
we have chosen to represent our best interests. Neither 
must we forget that "the greatest good for the greatest num- 
ber" must be recognized in the consideration of all final deci- 
sions. Certain rights may be held as inviolate, but in order 
to progress we must be ready to adjust ourselves to new con- 
ditions for general improvement. 

The ballot is our personal right, and by it many important 
things of government, of state, and of community are de- 



SCHOOL ELECTION; CHOOSING OFFICERS 19 

cided. Failure to exercise tliis right is a crime against de- 
mocracy. Every good citizen looks upon the opportunity 
to vote as a great privilege, wherein an opportunity is given 
him to become a part of the decisive power of things pertain- 
ing to- the needs and to the welfare of citizenship. If a 
nation is to be strong it must be decisive. If an individual 
is to be strong, he, too, must exercise that same quality. In 
deciding the great questions of the day the ballot has proved 
to be an effective means. Through this the people have 
made known their will, and the majority vote has usually 
been accepted without question. It therefore becomes a 
duty as well as a privilege to exercise this right intelligently. 

We find it necessary to delegate many of our rights, how- 
ever important they may be. In doing this we centralize 
responsibility, and secure better results than could otherwise 
be attained. The great cost of the general election now is 
prohibitive as a decisive power for all of our needs. So we 
use this as a means of selecting those whom we beheve best 
suited to become our spokesmen, and we delegate to them 
certain of our rights. The question has many times arisen 
as to how many questions we ought to undertake to settle 
directly, and what things should be delegated to our per- 
sonal representatives. No agreement has been reached in 
this matter, and probably there will always be a difference 
of opinion concerning this point. One thing we should al- 
ways keep in mind in this connection, — that is to choose 
wisely whenever the question of choice devolves upon us. 
Then we shall be better able to hold our representatives 
responsible for wisdom and good judgment in all of their 
actions pertaining to the general welfare. 

The Nation can be only the aggregate of what its citizens 
represent. Hence the smaller community units, which are 
more individualized, represent the strongest factors which go 
to make up the general federal unit. A strong energized 



20 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

decisive community knows no such word as failure when 
applied to its progress and to its individual needs. It may 
have, and usually does have, a reputation which gives it an 
individual function of being recognized in a most definite 
manner. As individuals differ, so also do communities 
differ, and it is quite as important to choose well our place of 
living in a community of the highest type as it is to choose 
wisely our personal associates. Even more important than 
either of these is it that every individual should try to secure 
for the community in which he lives the very best civic con- 
ditions. To do this he must become a part of the commu- 
nity activities and intelligently study the needs in a con- 
scientious broad-minded light. His interest should inspire 
action fraught with good judgment, and he should have a 
desire to do his whole duty in a most honorable way. He 
should bear in mind the rights of his neighbors, and should 
respect their honest opinions. In the last analysis he should 
be willing to abide by what the majority believes to be for 
the best. 

No other question is more vital to the community's well- 
being than that having to do with the education of the chil- 
dren. When school problems must be determined by fran- 
chise this right should be more carefully exercised than ever. 
The school building is usually chosen for the meeting place 
and due notice is usually given pertaining to all questions 
under consideration. In many States school trustees are 
chosen at the annual school election, and the occasion ought 
to be important enough to cause every voter to do his duty 
on this special day. There are usually several other im- 
portant questions to be settled. Additional finances, over 
and above that provided by the State and the county, may 
be required to maintain the school properly. The grounds 
or the buildings may need improvement. It is a good thing 
to inspect the school premises carefully, and to discuss 



SCHOOL ELECTION; CHOOSING OFFICERS 21 

changes which the patrons of the district would hke to make 
during the year. The financial report may well be posted 
on the blackboard, and full explanation given by the officer 
in charge. 

A report of the year's work made by the Trustees should 
be read at the opening of the meeting. Nothing is more im- 
portant to the community than to meet in a common cause 
and exchange ideas on matters pertaining to the general 
good. No qualified voter can afford to forego the right to 
take part in this important gathering, and every one should 
feel the importance of giving sufficient time to "council" 
and to the social importance of the meeting. The latter may 
be made a most beneficial feature of such a meeting, but the 
former is indispensable to the best progress. 

The time of this meeting should be when leisure moments 
are most abundant. Due consideration should be given to 
season and to occupation of the people. Due notice must 
be given, with meeting place designated if other than the 
school building. Many States make detailed provisions for 
the meeting in the school law, all of which the district is 
required to observe and follow. It is an advantage always 
to set forth, in the public notice given, a clear concise mem- 
orandum of all transactions which the Board desire to have 
the voters consider. Supplementary explanation may be 
made on election day if everything is not clear, and never 
under any circumstances should vague propositions be voted 
upon. 

The most discouraging thing about the school election is 
shown by the fact that generally it is not a well-attended 
meeting. Careful investigation of records of many of the 
States shows that not fifty per cent of the districts, especially 
of rural communities, have had more than barely enough 
voters present on school election day to form a quorum and 
complete the lawful organization. A closer inspection of 



22 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

records from several States shows that only twenty-eight 
per cent of the quahfied electors have actually voted on any 
and all of the measures proposed. Many specific instances 
are shown where not more than five per cent of the voting 
population have taken any part in the school election. A 
careful comparison gives evidence of the fact that questions 
of increased levy bring out the largest vote. Factional in- 
terests, too, have been the means of an increased vote, but 
in the majority of these cases the results have been detri- 
mental to the community and to the school. Specific in- 
stances are found in the records which show that districts 
have not held a school election for two or more years, and 
have depended entirely upon the County Superintendent 
or other lawful authority to appoint these ofiicers. 

Another discouraging feature comes from the fact that in 
many school districts it is hard to find a man or woman who 
will willingly accept the position. Those having children to 
educate will take the office as a necessity during the time 
their children are in school. In other instances the one indi- 
vidual citizen who ought not to be chosen as school director, 
because of good and sufficient reasons, is the one who desires 
the office and who is elected because there is a dearth of can- 
didates. These things all militate against our scheme of 
administration, and are boimd to impress upon the minds of 
all good citizens the need for a more responsive plan. One 
of two things is quite certain; either the elective plan must 
elicit greater interest, or some more effective one must take 
its place. 

The next few years will decide the matter, because already 
several States have become dissatisfied with results and leg- 
islative authorization has been given for a closer organiza- 
tion with centralized authority. Such a change is likely to 
be hastened, too, by the fact that education may soon be 
considered of greater worth as a national asset than it is as 



SCHOOL ELECTION; CHOOSING OFFICERS 23 

an individual possession. If national ideals must be prop- 
agated and shaped within the public schools, then the Gov- 
ernment must see to it that this institution is not handled in 
a haphazard fashion. This means no reflection on the well- 
disposed community, but rather does it point to the fact 
that too much may be expected of individual citizens who 
are already busy with their own affairs and who already are 
overloaded with other responsibilities. It shows, too, that 
the elective plan may not always prove to be truly repre- 
sentative. 

Wliatever plan is followed in making the choice it is 
equally certain that the executive officers of the school 
should be composed of men and women best qualified and 
best adapted to administer wisely in this capacity. Broad- 
minded people and often "broad-shouldered" people are the 
best to choose. It requires individuals who are willing to 
sacrifice, who will give of their time freely when occasions 
demand it, and who will consider it a privilege to serve, to 
make really good trustees. Such officers must be willing 
to listen to all individual differences and carefully consider 
them, but finally they must honestly and fearlessly make 
such adjustments as seem to be for the best general good of 
the school life. The idea is quite common that there are 
few people who have both the qualifications and the adapta- 
tion to do this work well. The remedy offered is that we 
shall have fewer trustees in our new plan of organization; 
that the man who does have adaptation shall serve in a 
larger capacity than is now possible in the smaller district 
organization. This work is important enough to require 
the most careful management and to demand responsible 
executive authority. 

To make such an organization prove most fi-uitful may 
require better officers. Since time is an asset to the average 
man, he can give only a limited amount of this without pay. 



24 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

Better then is it to furnish some small remuneration, if by so 
doing efficiency be increased. Since the delegation of our 
powers has been essential in the administration of our af- 
fairs, there is every reason why those acting in an aggregate 
way in our individual stead should be paid some small re- 
turn for their time and for their talent. If then through a 
lack of active interest the people fail to make strong their 
local district by means of the elective method, then they 
should join heartily in a plan which will guarantee a better 
scheme in caring for the important duties connected with 
this office and necessary to wholesome educational progress. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. Is the elective system a satisfactory plan for choosing school district 
administrative oflScers? 

2. Does the present plan of local management give the very best educa- 
tional returns for the money which the people are expending for public 
education? Why? 

3. Why is it considered desirable to have three or more school officers 
rather than one for the management of the administrative affairs of 
a school district? 

4. Is it an advantage to have a county trustees or directors meeting, 
where all district school officers can meet for counsel and for the 
discussion of public school affairs? ' 



CHAPTER IV 

WORK OF THE ORGANIZED SCHOOL BOARD 

To make a good school officer it is necessary to know the 
general requirements of the school law as set forth in the 
State School Code, to know the rules and regulations of the 
State Board governing school board action, and to be fa- 
miliar with the neighborhood's wishes affecting school work. 
Such officers are usually required to qualify by taking an 
oath of office and subscribing to regular lawful requirements. 
Their first official act should be to organize; or if they have 
no such lawful requirement, to organize in a manner to in- 
sure an effective working committee. All official acts should 
take place at a regular meeting or at a special meeting called 
for a specific purpose. In general practice business of any 
kind may come up at a regular meeting in addition to that 
provided for by items of the regular calendar; while at a 
special meeting only such items of business may be consid- 
ered as are set forth in a "call notice." In calling for a 
special meeting several plans are practiced, the main essen- 
tial being a clear understanding by all members. Usually 
such a meeting is called by the Chairman, or may be called 
at the request of a majority of the members. Some organ- 
izations provide that the Clerk shall call the meeting instead 
of the Chairman, but in either case definiteness should be 
followed in such notice, giving time and place as well as the 
calendar of business concerning which said members will be 
called upon to participate. 

Probably one of the greatest mistakes that busy board 
members make is to give decisions individually when not in 
regular session. It may be some time before the regular 



26 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

meeting is to be held, and it may not be convenient to hold 
a special one for a single item of business. So personal ap- 
proval in such a case is often given without due consider- 
ation, the one receiving the same going from one member to 
the other and probably quoting to his own advantage state- 
ments of some one member previously interviewed. By 
being approached in such a manner by the wily agent, or 
by the inconsistent teacher who requires an immediate an- 
swer, members of a board have been individually led into do- 
ing an act which they would not have done when in coun- 
cil together. Districts have been seriously involved many 
times in this way, though individual board members meant 
well in their assented action. 

To avoid such mistakes a good working organization is 
of first importance. Members should agree to stand to- 
gether for the very best service to the district. They should 
agree to transact no official business except at a meeting, 
where the majority of the members are present and voting. 
A complete record should be made of each item of business, 
and the minutes of the meeting should be approved only 
after everything pertaining to all of the regular transactions 
is clearly set forth. This approval should be made at the 
close of the meeting if possible, because in many districts 
regular meetings are not held often enough for the mem- 
bers to recall individually each item until the next regular 
meeting. 

Following is a sample taken from the Clerk's Record 
Book which may serve as a guide to good practice : 

School District Number 148 

County, Washington 

March 30, 1916 
In accordance with the provisions of law the old members of the 
Board of Trustees and the newly elected member met at the school- 
house Saturday afternoon at 2.00 o'clock on the above date for the 



WORK OF THE SCHOOL BOARD 27 

purpose of forming a regular working organization. Mr. Johnson, 
Chairman of the outgoing Board, administered the oath of office 
to Mr. Simms, the incoming elected member, who received the 
majority vote at the regular annual school election held on the 
afternoon of the first Saturday in March. After extending good 
wishes Mr. Johnson, who is the retiring member of the old Board, 
withdrew leaving the new members in executive session. 

A motion was made by Mr. Simms that Mr. Redfield, the senior 
member of the Board, be chosen as Chairman for the year. It was 
seconded by Mr. Andrews, who put the question and declared Mr. 
Redfield duly elected. Mr. Simms then placed Mr. Andrews in 
nomination for School Clerk, explaining that he had examined the 
records of the past year and found them so satisfactorily kept that 
it would be a great advantage to continue the present Clerk for 
another year. The Chairman declared himself to be in hearty ac- 
cord, and closed the matter by declaring Mr. Andrews the choice 
of the Board for this office. 

The Chairman forthwith stated that the Board was duly or- 
ganized and ready for the transaction of business. By common 
consent the Board agreed first to sit as a council deciding upon 
regular policies to be followed through the year. After an hour's 
consideration the Clerk was asked to set forth the complete item- 
ized plan as it had been worked out in council. 

The Working Basis: 

Four regular meetings will be held during the year, the time of 
same being Saturday afternoon of the first Saturday of the months 
of April, July, October, and January. Special meetings may be 
called by the Chairman or at the request of the majority of the 
Board. In either case the "call notice" shall explain the reason 
for such meeting, and name items of business to be transacted. All 
regular meetings shall be held at the schoolhouse, and also all 
special meetings, unless otherwise stated in the "call notice." 

No official business shall be transacted except at a meeting with 
a majority of the membership participating. 

No member shall give his individual consent to a business trans- 
action, or make any official agreement w^ith any party or parties, 
except in Board session when a majority of the members are pres- 
ent. The Clerk of the Board shall be paid $30.00 per year for his 
work in keeping the minutes and the regular official records. In 
addition to this he shall be paid $3.00 per day for time spent in 
transacting other business for the Board. 



28 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

In the choice of teachers the unanimous approval of the Board 
shall be required. Personal interviews will be expected of appli- 
cants whenever possible. Personal letters written by those quali- 
jSed to judge will be used as means of investigation. 

The "budget" plan will be followed in providing the necessary 
revenue and in passing upon items of expense. 

For the consideration of improvements, for buildings, and for 
school premises, which involves an expense in addition to the 
annual revenue, the people of the district will be called in special 
meeting, at which time plans and details will be explained and the 
sentiment of the people thus secured. 

The minutes of each meeting must clearly set forth the items of 
business transaction, and shall record the vote on each if not unan- 
imously carried. Approval must be given to the minutes before 
each adjournment unless unanimously agreed to otherwise by the 
Board. 

By unanimous consent the plan was adopted as a working basis 
for the year. 

At 4.30 P.M. the minutes of the meeting were read by the Clerk 
and approved. 

Adjournment without motion. 

William Andrews 

Clerk 
John Redfield 

Chairman 

All meetings of the Board should be so conducted that due 
consideration may be given for each item of business. Some 
things are of such great importance that it is well to call a 
special meeting for the purpose of considering a single prop- 
osition. As example of this I would cite the employment 
of teachers, and the making of the yearly budget. The for- 
mer requires the most careful consideration, while the latter 
requires accuracy in detail of all of the items of expense 
necessary to provide for school maintenance on a good 
basis. It is of great advantage to have teachers apply in 
person, as this gives the Board a much better opportunity 
to talk over plans with them and to go into details concern- 



WORK OF THE SCHOOL BOARD 29 

ing qualifications and general requirements. No teacher 
should ever be employed upon recommendations written 
"To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN," and somctimes carried about 
for a number of years, without dates attached and without 
any positive statements concerning important qualifications 
which a teacher must possess, and many times without any 
personal knowledge on the part of the writer pertaining to 
such qualifications. Written information, to be of value, 
must be personal in character. It must be received in offi- 
cial confidence and used only in connection with the merits 
of the case in question. Since the teacher becomes the per- 
sonal directing element of the school, it becomes very neces- 
sary to use the greatest care in making this choice. Time is 
required for such work, and a meeting set aside for the pur- 
pose is of great advantage. The budget becomes the work- 
ing finance for the year, hence no item of expense can be 
overlooked at the time final approval is given. Each item, 
too, must be accurately estimated in order to prevent later 
embarrassment. If one item is placed too high it is hkely 
to handicap the whole scheme. If too low it may prevent 
the best development of necessary work. The value, then, of 
the budget plan as a working basis depends upon its accu- 
racy and well-balanced division of funds. It ought to insure 
wiser expenditure and serve as a guarantee that the general 
outlay will be kept within financial limitations. 

It is of advantage for the Board to appoint one member as 
purchasing agent, and to require the voucher plan to be fol- 
lowed in this connection. This centers responsibility and 
enables the teachers to know where to go to make request 
for school supphes. It proves economy in time in keeping 
accounts, because the purchasing agent can present his 
vouchers to be audited in accordance with the plan agreed 
upon. It is of advantage to have the Clerk act as purchas- 
ing agent since he has charge of all other records and his 



30 Hx\NDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

purchases may be more easily kept in harmony with the 
budget adopted, and the transactions made a part of the 
official records. The Auditing Committee of the Board 
should be composed of members not including the pur- 
chasing agent. During the time of year when the school is 
in session supplies are more frequently purchased, and it is 
well to have a monthly auditing if this is possible in order 
that all bills may be met promptly. This may be done in 
the evening at one of the homes if such a plan is first agreed 
upon. 

A policy should be formulated concerning the use of the 
schoolhouse for social and religious purposes. In many of 
the States the School Code provides for this in a general 
way, but even then a local policy is necessary in order to 
make the schoolhouse serve as a social-center meeting place 
for the neighborhood. In order to stimulate interest, the 
Board of Trustees should appoint a committee, the chair- 
man of which may be one of its members, to encourage and 
direct the social activities of the community. Special en- 
tertainments should be arranged for by and with the cooper- 
ation of the school, and special lectures should be procured 
whenever possible in order to provide a varied program. At 
least two kinds of evening programs should be included in 
the annual plan. One should be of the entertaining type 
and of such a character as to interest both adults and chil- 
dren. The other should be instructive and educational in 
character, but should represent only practical live themes of 
personal interest to all the people. Other forms of enter- 
tainment, varied according to the tastes of the people, should 
be provided, such as a good musical, a home-talent play, 
a dramatic reading, a moving-picture program, or a well 
prepared debate. In each case, the entertainment provided 
should be stimulating in character and represent worthy 
ideals. No sentimental or morally questionable entertain- 



WORK OF THE SCHOOL BOARD 31 

ment should ever be permitted. In connection with all of 
these evening gatherings, an opportunity should be given 
for an exchange of greetings and for social intercourse. 

If there is no church building near at hand the school- 
house should be used as a place of worship on Sunday. 
Such a meeting need not be denominational, but it should 
offer an opportunity for spiritual fellowship. The Sunday- 
School organization and the church service are necessary 
organizations for the development of man's spiritual nature, 
which is one of the three recognized elements in the com- 
plete, well-balanced human being. By using the school 
building for this purpose neighborhood economy is con- 
served. Under all circumstances, however, the school prop- 
erty should be carefully cared for, and the buildings re- 
spected and kept in a cleanly condition. At the close of the 
school year all buildings should be carefully inspected and 
apparatus thoroughly examined, in order to determine what 
improvements should be made during the vacation period. 
This inspection can be made to advantage during the last 
week of school, when the teacher is present to give sugges- 
tions and assist the officers of the Board by pointing out any 
necessary changes or repairs needed. 

Sufficient time should be given for a careful examination 
of the heating and ventilating apparatus, and notations 
should be made concerning numerous small items, such 
as condition of blackboard, window shades, interior decora- 
tion, tinting and painting, etc. Special attention should be 
given to coat rooms, drinking fountains, doormats, and foot 
scrapers. 

If outhouses are used, careful attention should be given to 
their sanitary consideration, and an exammation frequently 
made of the vault. The shield, which is necessary to whole- 
some conditions, should be kept in the best rejxiir and well 
painted. When a fence is used about the grounds this. 



S2 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

too, should be kept well painted in an attractive manner. 
It should be provided with a good gate or stile at the place 
of entrance. Condition of school ground, apparatus, flower- 
beds, and property walks should be noted. A detailed re- 
port of this investigation should be made by the Clerk and 
entered as a part of the records, together with official actions 
taken therewith. 

It is well to have the Board make another inspection visit 
just before the opening of the school for the fall term. 
Whatever improvements have been authorized may at this 
time be approved and audited. A complete renovation and 
cleaning of all buildings should be made by the janitor, if 
one is provided. If not provided, other means should be 
arranged for this work before the school is called into session. 
By so doing it is possible to give the teacher a more whole- 
some reception at the beginning, which is always advan- 
tageous to good school organization. 

During the school months the officers of the district 
should visit the school and encourage the fathers and moth- 
ers to do likewise. If time is an element, they may choose 
some stormy day and take with them their hmches. This 
will afford an opportunity to join the children in lessons and 
in the activities arranged for. It will offer an opportunity 
for a longer visit, which will allow a more complete investi- 
gation of the entire day's working plan. School officers as 
well as patrons could perhaps gain some new ideas concern- 
ing school work if they would sit in the class and join in the 
regular recitations. They should of course keep well in 
mind the fact that methods of instruction have materially 
changed in the time that has elapsed since they were chil- 
dren in school. They may be able to judge wisely concern- 
ing the merits of the plans used by the teacher only in so far 
as they are able to see results and catch the spirit of interest 
that pervades class work. If good judgment is used in the 



WORK OF THE SCHOOL BOARD 33 

summary of the day's events such a meeting will prove most 
valuable to school progress. If suggestions are to be made 
to the teacher this should always be done in private. Such 
suggestions should always be constructive in character in 
order to be fruitful. School ojBficers should make any com- 
plaints directly to the teacher, and should never permit 
themselves to gossip about the school or criticize in a de- 
structive way. Patrons, too, should be encouraged to fol- 
low this example in all of their dealings with the school, and 
by so doing efficiency will be increased and cooperation 
strengthened in making the school meet its highest obh- 
gations. 

School spirit of the right sort is advantageous in the pro- 
motion of better things, and it is quite worth while that the 
patrons encourage their children in that spirit of youth 
which grows into an organized influence for the execution 
of highest efforts. Leadership is a desirable characteristic, 
and it is well to encourage wholesome means of personal 
development both in school and out. To do this best, wise 
guidance is necessary. Original thinking must be encour- 
aged and personal freedom given in measure suited to the 
child's temperament and age development. Responsibility 
wisely placed offers the best incentive for personal improve- 
ment. This apphes to children in the same measure that it 
affects adult life. These things should always be taken into 
consideration in the organization of the school, and in pro- 
viding whatever means seems necessary for its complete 
functioning with life's highest and best needs. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What advantage is there in transacting all business at a regular or 
special meeting of the Board of Trustees? 

2. What is the prime difference between a regular and a special meeting? 

3. What official acts of the Board of Trustees should require unani- 
mous approval? 



34 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

4. Is it an advantage to make all oflScial acts unanimous, when such acts 
have been finally decided by a majority vote? 

5. Shoiild school buildings be considered community property, and as 
such be used for community activities, in accordance with rules and 
regulations made by the Board of Trustees? 

6. How can we best secure good inspection of school property'? 

7. In what ways can we best interest the patrons of the school in making 
the school proper the social center for all community activities? 



CHAPTER V 
RESOURCES AND FINANCES 

Each of the States has provided by law its own individual 
plan for financing school work. There are, however, some 
general basic principles for securing school revenue which 
have been generally adopted by many of the States. In 
illustration of this may be cited the fully demonstrated fact 
that large units of territory prove more satisfactory to school 
financing than do small ones. In our early development 
education was looked upon as a family obligation. A little 
later the organized district was made to assume this obli- 
gation by a local tax levy for school maintenance. Soon 
it was discovered that, since district valuation varied so 
greatly, this plan did not equitably meet the financial re- 
quirements. A district with one haK the valuation was 
often required to maintain a school for a larger number of 
children, and thus meet a very much larger financial obliga- 
tion than another and wealthier district lying immediately 
adjacent to it. The remedy for such discrepancies de- 
manded a larger unit for taxation for educational purposes 
and an equitable distribution of such taxes. The county or 
the State was then made the unit. 

Since the State has been recognized as the unit of school 
organization through the adopted constitution, and since 
the National Government has further recognized this prin- 
ciple of the large unit by providing subsidies to the different 
States for educational encouragement, the real responsibil- 
ity, therefore, has been placed upon the State to see that all 
revenues for general maintenance be distributed equitably. 
Equitable distribution in this case does not mean giving 



36 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

every school district an equal amount, but it does mean giv- 
ing the children of the different districts equal educational 
advantages in as far as this is possible. The State by this 
means assumes a larger responsibility for the school, and 
gives evidence that it believes in the necessity of developing 
all of its citizens to the highest degree, and of making all of 
them useful, self-supporting, and happy. The family and 
the local district are thus relieved of responsibilities they are 
unable to assume, and education is really made the business 
of the State. 

The complete justice of this system is clearly seen when 
we remember that the wealth within a State is never evenly 
distributed, and that local taxation gives some communities 
an abundance of funds while the revenue of others is too 
small to provide the necessities. Railroad lines extending 
across the State draw support from long distances on either 
side; but local taxation gives an advantage only to the dis- 
tricts through which these lines pass. Yet there is every 
reason why such taxable wealth should assist equally all of 
its patrons. The same law applies to telephone and tele- 
graph lines, and to all other public service corporations. 
Wlien all of the wealth of the entire State is held equitably 
responsible for providing revenue for education, it becomes 
comparatively easy to secure the necessary amount. The 
State can know no distinction in the rights and privileges of 
its citizens, and it is therefore obligated to allow no differ- 
ence to exist in their care and protection. 

In some of the States the county has been made the unit 
for revenue purposes, or there may be a combination of 
county and state responsibility. Of course, the county unit 
is much more preferable than the local unit, and may pro- 
vide for proper distribution within its limits. In many of 
the Middle West and far Western States the counties are 
large enough to make the county plan reasonably satisfac- 



RESOURCES AND FINANCES 37 

tory; but even in these cases it can be shown to be inequi- 
table because some counties of a single State may be well 
developed, and possess great wealth; while other counties 
are still new, imdevelojjed, and possess little means of reve- 
nue. The pioneer is opening the way for a richer civiliza- 
tion; the isolated family in the new community is extending 
the border line for the State's greater development; and the 
children of both the settled and the pioneer community 
must be given their heritage by the State. Within its ter- 
ritory yet unorganized, and within its counties not fully self- 
supporting the duty of the State is, clearly, to hold out the 
helping hand and guarantee the necessary protection. It is 
evident, therefore, that a unit of territory even as large as 
the county will not properly suffice to meet all conditions. 

Local district taxation still exists in a very large number 
of the States having a larger unit plan, to the extent that 
supplementary revenue is raised in this manner. In some 
instances this system has been retained at the request of the 
people, who have not made sufficient investigation to under- 
stand its handicap. Such requests, too, have come largely 
from wealthy communities which have all the necessary 
means of self-support. It does have the advantage of allow- 
ing the progressive community to tax itself to provide addi- 
tional facilities over and above that which the State and the 
county may provide; but its value ends there. 

It may be said without hesitation that the trend is toward 
the larger units. States not having adopted this means are 
investigating the effect it has had upon those using it, while 
some are trying it in modified fonn and hope to extend it as 
soon as greater efficiency is shown by its use. 

The Federal Government has discovered that many of the 
States are unable to offer the best educational advantages. 
It has found through investigation that per capita wealth in 
one State may be less than twenty-five per cent of that in 



38 IL\NDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

another. It is evident, too, that the wealth in some of the 
States never can be increased sufficiently to become equal 
to that of others. Some States are provided with good 
school buildings, with modern school furniture and appara- 
tus, have high educational standards, and have made provi- 
sions for efficient well-tramed teachers. Other States find it 
impossible to provide for more than &ve or six months of 
school, and even that under the direction of teachers who 
have not had the advantages of special training. To obviate 
these inequalities existing within the several States, the Na- 
tional Government has been urged to appropriate a large 
sum of money to further equalize common school advan- 
tages. Such a sum should total many millions of dollars be- 
cause adequate returns would be forthcoming only from a 
large expenditure. It ought to be divided in a manner to 
stimulate different phases of elementary educational devel- 
opment. It surely will be divided in a way to insure for all 
of the States advantages more nearly equal. Education has 
fully demonstrated its great worth to the country during the 
recent World War, and this is a good time for our National 
Congress to provide the means for making it a greater na- 
tional asset. National interest has often been expressed in 
a positive way, and public sentiment is ready to give such a 
measure general approval. 

The general custom of all of the States has been to require 
the local community to provide buildings, building sites, and 
the initial equipment. Bonding has been one of the neces- 
sary means used by the district to secure immediate funds, 
but the expense incident to bonding makes the method ex- 
pensive. The School Code usually sets forth the plan of 
procedure in brief form, and any additional information 
can usually be procured from the County School Superin- 
tendent. Universally a two-thirds vote is required to legal- 
ize a bond issue. The notice calling for such an election 



RESOURCES AND FINANCES 39 

must clearly set forth the purposes for which the money is to 
be used, and the full amount to be approved by the voters. 
It should set forth the plan of payment, the time bonds are 
to run, the options required, and the lawful rate of interest 
permitted. This notice should be made in triplicate and 
posted in public places, one copy being posted at or on 
the school premises. Beside this the local paper should be 
used for announcements, and all possible means should be 
employed to bring the matter to the attention of all the 
people. It is also a good plan to caU a mass meeting for 
the purpose of discussion and explanation. This insures a 
clearer understanding of the needs for such a bond issue, and 
creates a greater interest in this neighborhood movement. 
While the school directors may arbitrarily call a bond elec- 
tion at any time, it is far better for them to take the people 
into their confidence and thus crystallize public sentiment in 
favor of a worthy and necessary expenditure. Failure to do 
this often causes inaction, and may through lack of intelh- 
gent understanding create strife and factional feeling. 

Bonds should never run for more than twenty years, be- 
cause a longer time shifts the responsibihty of payment to 
the next generation. Neither is a longer period good eco- 
nomics nor good finance, because interest, even at a low 
rate, soon amounts to a sum as great as the original issue. 
No bonds should be accepted without an optional clause 
permitting payment of any reasonable portion after three 
years. It is sometimes an advantage to make this optional 
clause read "after one year," but most districts will find it 
impossible to meet all of the necessary financial adjustments 
before three years have elapsed. Moreover, if a district,. levy 
is made, it takes a year before collection is realized; so all 
estimates depending upon a tax must be based on collection 
a year hence. 

In order to finance well, the School Board must be familiar 



40 HiVNDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

with all of the different sources of income and means for 
securing revenue. It must be able to estimate accurately 
the amount due from each source provided by law. It 
should be able to estimate the local levy necessary to supple- 
ment that which is otherwise provided, so that all financial 
demands may be met promptly by the district. One of the 
best means of determining financial needs is to follow the 
budget plan. The following will serve as a suggestion to any 
district needing a good working budget: 

Annual Budget of School District Number Twenty-Eight, Gran- 
ville County, Washington, for the School Year Beginning 
July First, 1917, and Ending June Thirtieth, 1918 

For instruction (Payment of teachers) $1,800.00 

Janitor hire 180.00 

School supphes 270.00 

Needed apparatus 50.00 

Textbooks (Teacher's estimate) 228.00 

Fuel (By contract) 260.00 

New furniture (Request of teacher) 32.00 

Clerk's allowance (Payment for services) 40.00 

Traveling expenses (Attending directors' meeting) 20.00 

Incidentals 120.00 

Total $3,000.00 

Resources 

Estimate State apportionment $1,320.00 

Estimate County apportionment 1,256.00 

Amount to be raised by local taxation 424.00 

Valuation of district 212,000.00 

Necessary levy — two mills. 



This plan may be altered or changed to suit the needs of 
any district. If there be bonded indebtedness, it will be nec- 
essary to provide the amount needed to pay the interest and 
to set aside a sinking fund. Necessary painting or calcimin- 
ingcan be listed under "Upkeep of Buildings." By so doing 
the Board can easily keep within the allowance, and at the 
same time provide for all expenditures in a businesslike way. 



RESOURCES AND FINANCES 41 

Such an organized plan may be submitted to the people 
for their approval, or for their suggestions. Or it may be 
well to post a copy in the schoolhouse for the inspection of 
patrons who would like to know just how the money is to 
be used; for it is an advantage to have the patrons of the 
district become familiar with the financial plan which the 
School Board has adopted for the year. It is also a decided 
advantage to keep the organization on a cash basis, because 
the taxpayers of the community will appreciate a business 
management which will insure wise expenditure. The 
amounts indicated in each case do not necessarily mean that 
every dollar should be spent for that purpose. Rather they 
place a limit upon the amount that can be spent for a specific 
purpose. Should a surplus exist in any one or all of the 
listed items, it may well be carried over into the next year's 
plan and taken into consideration in making the new budget. 
It is well, however, to make the estimate so close that a 
large amount will not be carried over, because close, accurate 
estimates mean good financing. 

In paying all bills the voucher plan should be followed, 
and a carbon copy taken of the complete itemized statement, 
with the Board's approval and the necessary signature at- 
tached. For this purpose a blank-book form may be pro- 
cured, having in it two colors of paper, one for the carbon 
copy to be retained, the other to be sent to the treasurer, 
who is to draw the warrant in payment. If the colored 
sheets of paper be arranged in the book alternately, it w^ill 
add much to convenience, and the retained carbon copy will 
insure an accurate detailed accounting of expenditures. 
From these carbon copies it is easy to make a complete bal- 
ance sheet of finances and thus to determine just what 
amount remains in the aggregate, and also the amount re- 
maining to the credit of each subdivision. 

Well-kept records are not only desirable, but essential to 



42 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

the retention of the people's confidence. Every business 
officer, furthermore, is entitled to have all of his official acts 
approved when they are recorded in a manner to be under- 
stood. Public records should likewise always be subjected 
to examination and inspection by the people whom the 
school officers serve. This is doubly important when those 
records have to do with finances. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What are the fundamental principles forming the basis of good 
financing? 

2. How can such a system be administered to the satisfaction of the 
general pubHc? 

3. Is there any special advantage in examining the levies enumerated 
on the back of your tax receipt to find out how much you are spending 
for educational purposes? 

4. Would it be right, and would it be advantageous for parents of chil- 
dren to provide all the finances necessary for their education? 

5. \'\Tiat percentage of value does it add to real estate to have a high- 
grade public school near at hand.^ 



CHAPTER VI 

THE SCHOOL SITE 

The School Code of each State usually sets forth a plan for 
all of the most important official acts of a Board of School 
Trustees. One of the first matters to be attended to in 
organizing a new school district is the selection of the school 
site. In most States the law requires the school site to be 
chosen by the people. In some instances a two-thirds ma- 
jority is required for such a choice, while in other cases the 
majority vote is necessary in locating for the first time all 
school property. Almost without exception the States re- 
quire a two-thirds majority vote to change a site which has 
been selected by the people, and on which buildings have 
been erected at public expense. There are a number of im- 
portant points to be considered when selecting a school site, 
and of equal importance is it to make school premises, al- 
ready located, attractive and sanitary. 

If a site is to be chosen for a new district, it is always well 
to lay out the boundary carefully and to indicate the road- 
ways and the streams, if there be any. The first is impor- 
tant for determining traveling facilities and distances, the 
second for determining safe bridge-crossings during high- 
water seasons. With these things accurately placed upon a 
map, it ought not to be difficult to determine upon advan- 
tageous places for schoolhouse location. All other things 
being equal, it is best to have a schoolhouse situated near 
the center of the district, but it is always necessary to place 
it near the most important highways. This location should 
never be chosen with any other object in mind than that of 
the children's best interests. It should be remembered that 



14 HiVNDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

each child of the district must travel to and from the build- 
ing each day during the school season, and it should be 
placed where equitable advantages may be offered to all the 
families concerned, in so far as this is possible. No personal 
contention should ever be considered. 

So important is it to have good sanitary conditions sur- 
rounding school buildings that this item must be made one 
of first importance. Good health is necessary to mental 
progress as well as to the general comfort of the individual. 
So this ought to be taken into consideration when buildings 
are located. If possible a spot should be chosen somewhat 
elevated where drainage will be good, and where no seepage 
can contaminate the premises. Sunshine is indispensable, 
both because of its cleansing qualities and the cheer it gives. 
But a barren windy hill should be avoided just as carefully 
as a location within a deep shady glen or upon a low flat 
valley. Local climatic conditions should always be taken 
into consideration because this may entirely alter the sit- 
uation. 

Too many times do we find school buildings located upon 
a rocky ledge or upon a barren spot which has been donated 
to the district because of its worthlessness. Such a location 
is sure to become an expensive asset to the district even if it 
costs nothing in the beginning. It should be said, however, 
that such sites have usually been accepted only when the 
financial condition made anything else impossible. Under 
these circumstances such a choice may be permissible. But 
even then in the end it is hkely to prove a great disadvan- 
tage if not a business liability. When once a site has been 
chosen, buildings erected, and general improvements made, 
it is a difficult matter to make a change because of the added 
expense. This alone is sufficient cause to urge the necessity 
of making a wise choice in the beginning and thus have the 
matter settled for all time. 



THE SCHOOL SITE 



45 



In order to make attractive school grounds, it is neces- 
sary to have deep 
rich soil where 
flowers, shrubs, 
and trees may 
be propagated in 
abundance. Too 
long have we per- 
mitted our school 
homes to stand on 
a bleak spot, unin- 
viting and unat- 
tractive. Too long 
have we considered 
education as some- 
thing growing out 
of textbooks and 
school recitations, 
and existing wholly 
within the school- 
room activities. 
Too long have we 
ignored the fact 
that personal inter- 
est on the part of 
the child is of first 
importance in his 
development, and 
that his interest in 
the school can be 
increased by adding 
attractiveness with- 




A Better Type of School Site 



out to the homelike Jtis site was kid out for the trustees by an expert from the 
State Agricultural College, and the numbers refer to a piaul- 
influenCeS within. ing Pl^n prepared for the trustees. 



46 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

The size of the ^chool site should depend upon the number 
of rooms represented by the school and the number of chil- 
dren who attend. In rural communities the average-sized 
district represents from one to two acres. Such an acreage 
is almost too small when considered in connection with 
modem educational facilities. School gardening and agri- 
cultural experimentation also need proper space and soil. 
The vital needs of country life ought not to be neglected, as 
they must of necessity be when the school site is small in 
size and rocky or sterile in kind. A plat of sufficient size is 
necessary, too, to good wholesome school activities, since all 
children should be encouraged to participate in play and in 
the physical games during the recess periods. This is nec- 
essary to good school discipline and to mental concentration 
during the working hours. Ball, of the various kinds, is a 
wholesome sport but requires considerable space in order to 
prevent avoidable mishaps. This field should be placed on 
one side of the building, where the flying ball will not strike 
the unsuspecting child who is otherwise engaged. The 
allotted space should be large enough to prevent the fly- 
ing ball from going across into the neighbor's grainfield or 
meadow. This has often been the cause of unwholesome 
contention. Young children choose different kinds of sport, 
and so the entire school grounds should be laid off in a man- 
ner to give the very largest possible advantages for physical 
development. The proper placing of buildings adds very 
much to convenience and to the attractiveness of the grounds, 
and should be carefully regarded in the plan. There should 
be a place for trees and shrubs and for flower-beds too, and 
the cliildren should be taught to respect them properly and 
to assist in their propagation. All these should be chosen to 
suit climatic conditions, not forgetting that native shrubs 
are just as attractive as the nursery -propagated types and 
often prove more hardy. 



THE SCHOOL SITE 47 

In many scliool grounds wild grass and pea vines are the 
only living plants, and these grow only during the most fa- 
vorable part of springtime. The whole scene outside the 
building gives an impression of desolation. There is nothing 
without to inspire the children with a desire to hold in rev- 
erence this spot where so many hours of their youth have 
been spent. The school can mean to them only a daily 
routine of classwork and study, to which may be added such 
individual interest as the teacher is able to create through 
her plan of organization. Under such circumstances the 
child of the country may live very far from mother Nature's 
richest treasures because of somebody's failure to make the 
school premises attractive. He may as w^ell live in a tene- 
ment in the great city and play on the top of the building, so 
far as his school life proves an advantage in giving him an 
impression of Nature herself. City school environments of the 
tenement type are deprecated for their cramped and un- 
wholesome influence, and there is every reason why such 
conditions should not be permitted under any circumstances 
in the great, wide, open country. 

If the school plant is already located, and in most instances 
this will be the case, it then becomes necessary to make the 
very best of the situation as it exists. If there is trouble 
from seepage, drainage should be one of the first problems 
cared for. If the school building is located in a thicket, re- 
move a sufficient number of the trees from the south and east 
of the building to permit sunshine to fall upon it, and shine 
into it unhampered. E the location is on a windy hill, plant 
trees in a manner to form a windbreak, thus protecting the 
buildings from the rude blasts. If the soil is not fertile, en- 
rich it in the most practical way at your disposal. If too 
small, increase it by purchasing sufficient land adjoining. 
Such may usually be secured by common agreement, but 
the law provides for condemnation proceedings in case an 



48 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

owner refuses to sell at a reasonable price the amount of land 
necessary to meet school needs. Remember finally that 
every obstacle can be overcome, and must be overcome by 
school officers who desire to meet their obligation. 

Many States have regular "Arbor Days," and this is a 
good time for the people of the neighborhood to gather and 
plant shrubs and trees on the school premises. Other local 
improvements can be made at the same time which will add 
to the general attractiveness and create a deeper interest 
in the school. The children should always be called upon 
to assist in such work, for in no other way can they be made 
to feel the same personal interest in it. A child will never 
destroy a tree planted by his own hand. He will always 
foster the flowers that have grown from the seed which he 
brought from home. He will always take an interest in the 
flower-beds built during his leisure moments. He will always 
respect herbs which the school organization has chosen and 
propagated. Therefore, in connection with all school im- 
provement a sense of ownership as well as a sense of personal 
pride should be instilled in the children of the community. 

When the State purchases school property, it is always 
dedicated to the children of the community whom the law 
recognizes in practice, though the title of trust must be held 
in the name of the district or the State. In dedicating this 
to the children there are certain guarantees which go with 
it. Such guarantees offer privileges for educational advance- 
ment which all good citizens are called upon to respect. The 
local Board is called upon to administer the will of the State, 
and to this extent becomes the guardian of all the neighbor- 
hood's children of school age and must protect their educa- 
tional birthright. 

A scenic panorama beyond the school grounds has not 
been urged because outlying landscape is almost always 
beautiful. Nothing should be more attractive than fields of 



THE SCHOOL SITE 49 

gromng grain, orchards laden with fruit, and pasturelands 
dotted with farm animals. Nature usually endows any 
spot in the open comitry with sufficient beauty to make an 
impressive scene. So this need not be taken into serious 
consideration in choosing a location, though there is no harm 
in keeping it in mind. It is always an advantage to have 
children draw inspiration from their own surroundings, 
but in a large measure this must come through the ability 
of the parents to recognize such things first, and through 
the interest the teacher may take in making this an effec- 
tive part of the educational plan of the school. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What are the principal points to be taken into consideration when a 
new school site is to be chosen? 

2. What size should a school site be in order to provide sufficient play- 
grounds and school garden, so that there will be no encroachment 
upon the property surrounding the school buildings? 

3. What educational advantages can come from attractive school 
grounds laid off in a manner to meet the needs of all the school 
activities? 

4. Are the excuses which are usually advanced for placing a schoolhouse 
on a bleak, barren hill, or in some other unattractive spot, legitimate? 



CHAPTER Vn 
THE SCHOOL PLANT 

Several buildings are required to meet the needs of a mod- 
ern school plant. All of them need not be built at the same 
time, but it is advantageous to decide upon the general 
scheme of location in order to insure harmony and symmetry 
of plan and arrangement. For this work it is well to secure 
the services of a landscape gardener, if possible, since the 
cost for such service will not be great and the attractiveness 
of well-planned school premises will insure greater commu- 
nity pride. In the plan, shrubbery, trees, flower-beds, lawn, 
and plats for playground and for school gardening should be 
considered, as well as the harmonious location of the build- 
ings. The kind of trees and shrubs desired should be de- 
cided upon at this time, because valuable time can be lost 
and much discouragement come from a mistake in the first 
planting. Herein lies the value of employing a good land- 
scape gardener who is not only an artist, but who is also 
familiar with the hardy plant life and can recommend that 
which is best adapted to the particular locality. If there is 
to be a well on the grounds, it should be so placed in the 
plat of buildings as to be most serviceable. Walks should 
be indicated for the entire plat, beginning with the entrance 
at the front. The aim should be to make the tract both use- 
ful and attractive, and, when all arrangements are agreed 
upon, the Board of Trustees should have a meeting and 
officially approve such arrangements. A blue-print can then 
be made, filed as part of the school records, and used again 
when additional improvements are made. This method of 
procedure provides a complete system, so that improve- 



THE SCHOOL PLANT 5J 

ment may be made gradually if that is necessary. The plan 
given in the illustration in the preceding chapter shows how 
one Board of Trustees solved this i:)roblem. 

If it is impossible to secure the services of a landscape 
gardener, it is well to write to some one of the educational 
institutions of the State with a request for help. A State 
normal school, or the State College of Agriculture, often can 
send printed matter and give valuable help. Every institu- 
tion may not have a special department of landscape archi- 
tecture, but it will have some allied department which can 
give assistance. Or, if the assistance cannot be given di- 
rectly, the department will be glad to direct you to some 
other institution or to some other means of getting the 
needed help. Trees and shrubbery may often be secured 
from the State Agricultural College; for such an institution 
must propagate many kinds of growing plants in connection 
with its "Experiment Station," and the hardy species can 
often be had for the asking. If, however, the Experiment 
Station cannot furnish you what you want, it will at least 
recommend shrubs and plants adapted to your climatic con- 
ditions. 

One building was formerly conceived to be all that was 
necessary for the school. This was built into one large reci- 
tation hall with coat rooms at the front for the children's 
wraps and lunch baskets; while added to this the small 
out-houses at the rear formed the sum total of all that was 
believed necessary. School premises of this kind are still 
found in many rural communities, but the people are fast 
recognizing additional needs and providing a more modern 
school plant. The "teacherage," or school cottage, has been 
found of great advantage in securing good teachers; for 
family life cannot be dispensed with even in the teaching pro- 
fession. The school cottage is often necessary to guarantee 
permanency and make teaching a stable profession, but, 



52 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

even in those places where no such provision is yet made, the 
old-time plan of '* boarding round " has passed, and the newer 
custom of finding a suitable boarding-place has superseded 
it. Yet in many districts this plan, too, has proved unsatis- 
factory; for the teacher often becomes discouraged when 
no opportunity is offered for study or for school preparation, 
and because of this she is unable to do her best work. She 
moves about from district to district hoping to find better 
conditions. Her years of service are thus limited because 
such a plan of living is not in harmony with good service. 
To remedy these conditions the teacher's cottage has been 
provided, and it has proved a very effective means of pro- 
fessionalizing the teacher's work. 

The great value to the proposed plan can at once be seen. 
If districts generally would provide for good living facilities 
on the school ground, well-trained teachers could be more 
easily procured and would be willing to remain in the district 
for a much longer time. No district wants the inexperienced 
teacher; yet with our present plan at least thirty per cent 
of the teachers employed must enter the profession as new 
teachers each year. To provide such a building, then, is not 
simply an added expense to the district; it is a profitable 
investment yielding returns far in excess of the initial 
cost. 

Such a cottage need not be expensive. Sometimes, in con- 
solidating schools, an old one-room school building can be 
used and rebuilt to form a good teachers' cottage. The 
cottage, though, should be attractively built, and should be 
of good modern construction. The illustrations here re- 
produced represent types of such "teacherage " buildings. 
One drawing shows a two-room building, with such conven- 
iences as ought to be provided in a cottage of that size. The 
living-room here must also be used as a bedroom, using a 
couch bed. This plan is sufficiently complete to furnish any 




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A Two-Room Teachers' Cottage 



54 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

good mechanic the necessary details from which to construct 
the building. The same also is true of the other drawings. 
Another plan given is for a cottage of four or five rooms, in 
accordance with the interior arrangement plan. These three 
drawings are offered as suggestive, but may be used for 
actual construction purposes should the Trustees elect to use 




A Three- or Five-Room Teachers' Cottage 

The floor plan shows a three-room building, but two additional bedrooms can be added 
to the second floor. A furnace could also be placed in the basement. 



THE SCHOOL PLANT 



55 



them. Other plans may be secured from the local architect, 
but it is well to have something definite to follow in making 
improvements of this character. 

Climatic conditions vary greatly throughout the country, 
and the basic need of one community will not suit the neces- 
sity of every other. There is, however, great need in most 




. q p „eO 




A Four- or Five-Room Teachers' Cottage 

The floor plan shows four rooms, but an additional room may be placed in the attic 



56 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

of our schools for a school gymnasium. Children must have 
physical activity; and this ought to be of such a character 
that personal development will come through it. At certain 
seasons outdoor sports ought to be encouraged; but there are 
rainy days, stormy days, and cold days when the children 
need protection from the weather during their hours of play. 
The schoolhouse lacking a special gymnasium room cannot 




A Simple Outdoor Gymnasium 

See the school plan facing the title-page. 



THE SCHOOL PLANT 57 

properly be used for this, and, where no other provision is 
made, Httle or no exercise is taken at such times. The 
Nation, moreover, is fast recognizing the need of proper 
health training and supervised physical development, and the 
school seems to be the only place where this can be ade- 
quately done. For either of these purposes — healthy play 
and corrective exercise — the gymnasium is necessary. 

The opposite drawing shows a very desirable and at the 
same time a very simple plan for a separate gymnasium 
building, with removable sides, which make it usable for 
either pleasant or stormy weather. The construction is sim- 
ple, and will prove inexpensive in countries where native 
woods may be used for the framework. The size of the 
building will depend upon the number of children to be ac- 
commodated, and upon whether it is to be used by the peo- 
ple of the community for evening activities in addition to 
serving the school need. The local teacher will be able to 
give the needed dimensions for basket-ball courts, for indoor 
baseball, for handball, or for any of the other interior activi- 
ties. Simple apparatus may be provided at small cost, such 
as the horizontal bar, chest developers, stall bars, tumbling 
mats, etc. If, moreover, the school becomes the real social 
center of the district, this building will add greatly to the 
social advantages and so serve an important community 
need. 

The building plans and exteriors inserted here represent 
simple and inexpensive rural school buildings of the modern 
type. The architecture is plain, but it is also attractive. 
One, two, and three-room buildings are represented, and the 
plans are meant to be so specific that they may be used for 
construction purposes, should this be desirable. They are, 
however, intended primarily to offer suggestions concerning 
modern types and modem arrangement of such buildings. 
The three-room building presents a plan which will meet our 



58 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

new needs in developing manual arts and domestic science 
in the small school. The domestic science kitchen may be 
used as a hot-lunch room, and in this way become a service 
department as well. The manual arts room should be 
equipped in a manner to accommodate whatever local re- 



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A Simple and Satisfactory One-Room RuraltSchool Building 

This is the school iTuilding shown in the plate facing? the title-page. Another arrange- 
ment of the exterior and interior of such a building is shown on page 59. 



THE SCHOOL PLANT 



59 



quirement there is for manual arts development. It may 
also serve as a department where apparatus may be con- 
structed to meet any school need. If the doors between be 








Another Type of One-Room Rur.s.L"School Building 




A Simple Two-Room Rural-School Building 
Two types of exterior shown for the same floor plan. 




A Very Desirable Type of RuRAL-ScnooL Building 

Two types of exterior shown. This kind of a building allows proper provision to be made 
for instruction in science and the practical arts. The interior of the main classroom is shown 
in the drawing on page 65. 



62 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

provided with panel glass, the side rooms will still be under 
the supervision of the teacher who may be engaged in some 
work in the central classroom. This plan is especially 
commended to progressive neighborhoods having but one 
teacher and still desiring to have some of its practical prob- 
lems worked out within the school. It should be noted 
that this same principle can be combined with any other 
plans, if it is desired to make such a feature of the school. 
Considering the new demands now being made upon even 
the smaller schools, these new features may most advanta- 
geously be incorporated in the school plant. 

Another very desirable type of rural school building is 
that erected recently at Mayville, North Dakota, a floor 
plan of which is given on the following page. The roof lines 
would be those of a one-room building, but the interior also 
provides small special rooms for work in manual training, 
domestic science, and agriculture — very desirable addi- 
tions to a rural school building — as well as the larger school 
classroom. 

The size of the school building depends entirely upon the 
number of children to be accommodated. According to the 
calculated standard a room for thirty children should have 
floor dimensions twenty-four by thirty-two feet, it being bet- 
ter to have a room somewhat oversized than to have it too 
small, because of the necessity for good air, since the building 
soon becomes "stuffy" if the air is not changed sufficiently 
often. The ceiling should be fully thirteen feet high in order 
to get proper height for windows, but a greater height wastes 
heat, since the rooms being heated from the top the warmest 
portion is toward the ceiling. Light rays fall at an angle of 
forty-five degrees, so direct rays will fall across a room twice as 
wide as the windows are high. Low windows and wide rooms 
cause a reflection and refraction of light rays very harmful to 
the eyes and should, therefore, be avoided for classrooms. 



THE SCHOOL PLANT 



63 



At the front of the building there should be a broad "en- 
trance way" with large doors to prevent crowding when the 
children pass in and out of the room. Two coat rooms of 
sufficient size should be provided near the entrance door, — 




The Model Rurai^School Building at Matv^ille, North Dakota 

The especial feature here is the main floor arrangement, rooms being provided for special 
work in agriculture, domestic science, and manual training. The basement, to which the 
stairs lead, is used for furnace, playroom, and water storasje for the school. In such a school 
building the best of a modern rural-school curriculum can be taught. 

(From Woofter's Teaching in Rural Schools, p. 42) 

one for the girls and one for the boys. Such an arrangement 
has proved best because boys are more inclined to crowd and 
are somewhat rougher than girls. It also offers more privi- 
leges in adjusting clothing, which is always an advantage 
in creating a good moral atmosphere and environment. 



64 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

These coat rooms should be large enough to insure an easy- 
passageway, and should be provided with all of the equip- 
ment necessary to make the children orderly in their habits. 
Their position, however, must be such that these rooms can 
be supervised easily by the teacher during the time of inter- 
mission. They should be heated well and especially well 
ventilated, in order that the wet wraps will dry during the 
stormy weather, and that the odors thus arising shall not 
contaminate the schoolroom proper. The teacher ought to 
have a private place for such of her own personal belong- 
ings as she may bring to the school; and a closet for school 
supplies should be included in the plan, possibly in combina- 
tion with the teacher's cloak room. 

Various minor details of the entrance may here be con- 
sidered. Every building should have a covered porch or 
veranda at the front in order to make possible better house- 
keeping conditions; for foot-scrapers and doormats are es- 
sential if the interior is to be kept cleanly and sanitary, and 
without a porch this condition is difficult to maintain. All 
doors should be large and swing outward, and should have 
a well-adjusted spring at the top to prevent slamming and 
a foot-latch at the bottom to hold them open at any angle 
desired. Several States have even passed laws requiring 
all schoolroom doors to swing outward, as a safety measure 
in case of fire. The plan does not prove disadvantageous 
when the outside doorway opens onto a veranda. 

In order to provide the best light the windows should have 
as little space between them as possible. The light should 
come from one side of the room, the left, and should repre- 
sent an area two fifths the size of the floor space of the room 
to be lighted. It is better to use sash containing a number 
of small panes because the added strength lowers the possi- 
bility of accidental breakage, which is larger in the school 
than in the home because of the large number of children 
assembled at the same time. 



THE SCHOOL PLANT 



65 



If the windows are to be used at any time for ventilation 
they should be hung on weights for easy operation. To pre- 
vent direct currents, window boards five inches wide should 
be provided for the bottom sash. Better than that for veu' 




An Interior View of a Classroom 

The doors here are arranged for the classroom in the last building shown. The windows 

apply to any of the buildings. 



tilating purposes is the plan of having at the rear some small 
windows, near the ceiling and hung on transom rods. The 
rods should be arranged to move the top of the windows in- 
ward, so that the current of air will be deflected upward to 
the ceiling as it enters the room. This scheme will prevent 
the current falling directly into the room upon the heads of 
the children who are at w^ork in their seats. It should be 
understood in this connection that with proper ventilating 
apparatus installed it ought not to be necessary to use ven- 
tilating windows except during the spring and summer 
months when no fire is lighted. 

School buildings should be enduring from the standpoint 
of structure, and ought to be adaptable from the standpoint 
of use. They should represent not only good construction, 
but also modern construction. They must provide favor- 



66 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

able conditions for both teaching and learning as well as for 
protecting the children from the weather. They must pro- 
vide an environment that is wholesome and make possible 
an atmosphere that is pleasing. To this end both the in- 
terior and the exterior should be kept well painted and in 
first-class repair at all times. This pays economically, but 
it pays doubly from the standpoint of its effect upon the life 
of the children. As the family takes greater pride in good 
wholesome home conditions, so also do the children have a 
deeper interest in the school when it presents an attractive, 
wholesome appearance. 

The color scheme for the interior should be chosen with 
great care because it greatly affects the proper diffusion of 
light. Bright colors of every kind should be avoided. Sub- 
dued colors should always be used because of the soothing 
effect they have upon the children's nerves. The scheme 
should represent harmony, should give an artistic appear- 
ance, and at the same time should, as suggested above, aid 
in the lighting effect. Cream tinting is usually accepted as 
the very best coloring for the ceiling. For the walls soft 
gray, light brown, and buffs have received highest approval 
from those who have given the matter a thorough test. All 
woodwork should have a flat finish to prevent reflection of 
light, and polished surfaces of every kind should be avoided. 
The entire setting of the room, including furniture and pic- 
tures, should produce an impression of harmony, simplicity, 
and tranquillity. 

There is a close relationship between the physical con- 
dition of the child and his mental activities. If proper 
temperature is given to his body, his mind responds more 
readily. If proper light is given to his eyes, his mind 
may be concentrated more completely for a greater period 
of time. If the interior air in which he must live be vital- 
ized properly by the pure oxidized elements from without. 



THE SCHOOL PLANT 



67 



his nervous system will v/ithstand the greater shock of the 
intensified mind concentration. From this we deduce the 
fact that light, heat, and ventilation play a very important 
part in schoolhouse construction. It is quite easy to heat 
a building to any given temperature, but to hold this tem- 
perature steady and at the same time give proper circulation 
and good ventilation is a more difficult task. To secure this 
ventilation, there must be a steady stream of fresh air com- 
ing into the room, and an equal-sized outgoing current of 
foul air. Experts believe that breathed air becomes laden 
with carbon dioxide which is slightly heavier than the air 
itseK, and which, therefore, gravitates toward the floor. 









\\ 



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\* 








Heating and Ventilating Plan for a Sxlvll School 

This shows how the fresh air coming in under the stove is heated as it ascends inside the 
surrounding jacket, is then distributed to all parts of the room, and passes out at the floor 
inlet and ascends the heated chimney outlet flue. 

Thus to make a ventilating system effective, it becomes 
necessary to remove the foul air from the lower strata of the 
room. To do this best a vent is necessary. But even then 
some force will be required to set the air in motion. The 



68 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

Plenum Fan has not been found practical for small buildings; 
so the heat-driven force has been generally employed. It is 
scientifically known that heated air is the cause of all great 
aerial commotions, such as winds and great air currents. 
On a smaller scale heated air within a room causes circula- 
tory movements which, if properly regulated, will distribute 
and equalize the temperature throughout the interior. To do 
this it is necessary to bring the cold current of air from out- 
side directly in contact with the heated air which, by means 
of the upward circulatory force, will set all of the air within 
the room in motion. If the outgoing vent opening at the 
floor line be so arranged that it comes in close contact with 
the heated flue, it will provide the necessary force to remove 
the foul air as rapidly as the intake provides fresh air. A 
double flue with a thin partition will furnish sufficient heat 
to insure good ventilation. Or a large flue may be built 
so that a galvanized iron tube may be inserted within 
it, and brought down to the stovepipe connection. The 
smoke passing out of the metal pipe within the chimney 
space will furnish the heat force necessary to good venti- 
lation. 

It will prove advantageous to place the heating apparatus 
in the warmest portion of the room. This is probably con- 
trary to ordinary practice, but scientific investigation proves 
that it is best. The walls of a room are three or more de- 
grees colder than the atmosphere within, while the window 
portion has been found to be several degrees colder than the 
interior atmosphere. Evidence of this can be clearly recog- 
nized by placing your hands or cheek against the window- 
pane during cold periods, when the temperature is perfectly 
comfortable within the building. Since heated air moves 
first upward, then toward the coldest portion of the room, 
which is the window space, the best circulatory movements 
are obtained by placing the heater in the warmest spot. 



THE SCHOOL PLANT 



69 



This not only causes equal distribution of heat, but insures 
a warm floor as well as 
a warm ceiling. 

In order to heat air 
coming in through the 
fresh-air intake, it be- 
comes necessary to 
bring it into the room 
underneath the heating 
apparatus which must 
be surrounded by a 
jacket in order properly 
to start the circulation. 
The incoming air being 
cold, its upward move- 
ment is arrested until 
it is properly heated 
and sent forth by force 
of air expansion. A 
careful study of the 
adjoining drawing will 
show how the heating 
apparatus should be 
installed. The intake 
should be the same size 
as the outgoing vent 
and should be large 
enough to insure a com- 
plete change of air 
within the room every 
fifteen or twenty min- 
utes. A damper placed 

in the fresh-air pipe will regulate the draft during windy 
days. It is best, also, to arrange the pipe outside of the 




Cross-Section of the 
Ventilating Plan 

This shows the details of the plan illustrated on 
page G7. 



70 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

building in a manner to take the air some distance above 
the gromid, thus preventing dust from being sucked into 
the building through the vent-pipe and taking air from 
strata purer than are found near the ground. 

If a basement can be provided for the building, without 
too much expense, a small furnace may be used instead of 
the heating apparatus described. This, too, insures greater 
cleanliness within the room and conserves the floor space 
which would be occupied by the heating system. Modem 
hot-air furnaces give excellent service and are entirely safe 
when rightly installed. The room may be quickly heated 
by this means, and only occasional firing is required to keep 
an even temperature. This plan gives, furthermore, a more 
certain means of ventilation than does the heater within 
the room. It will cost somewhat more to install; but, if the 
basement space be used for fuel, it may save an outside 
building. An estimate of comparative cost will always be 
gladly furnished by the local furnace dealer or hardware 
man. There are in addition a number of patent systems 
which have given satisfactory results when rightly installed. 
Before purchasing any one of these, however, it is best to 
secure the approval of the county superintendent, who is 
usually required by law to investigate such matters and to 
give the benefit of his knowledge freely to school officers. 

The use of outside toilets should, if possible, be avoided 
because they are difficult to keep sanitary. The immoral 
and unsightly conditions caused by their use need not be 
pointed out specifically, since it brings to mind a picture 
that is anything but pleasant. Such conditions should 
never be permitted because of the lasting impressions they 
make upon the children's minds. Habits formed in child- 
hood cannot be easily eradicated, and such conditions should 
not be allowed to exist as they have in the past. If no other 
means can be provided such buildings become a necessity. 



THE SCHOOL PLANT 



71 



but in that event the 
vault should be deep, 
and well walled and 
vented. A shield with 
clinging vines covering 
it should be provid- 
ed and the building 
should be kept in first- 
class condition at all 
times. The interior 
must be kept well 
painted, and no mark- 
ings of any kind per- 
mitted. It ought to 
be cleansed frequent- 
ly with water and 
soap, and plenty of 
slacked lime applied to 
the vault. One of the 
best means of keep- 
ing such buildings 
clean is to appoint 
"monitors" from each 
of the sexes, and give 
them not only the 
instruction but the 
authority needed for 
good management. 
The teacher must, how- 
ever, always be held 
responsible for good 
supervision in this con- 
nection. 

During recent years 





/f^-Zi// 7^y7^ y»/-{Zfiyn>r«/^ 



Plan for a Toilet where Ruxnixq 
Water is not available 



72 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

certain chemical processes have been discovered which 
make possible interior toilets, even when water pressure is 
not to be had. Such a system may be installed, as shown 
in the illustration, and the toilet room located in a com- 
partment next to the children's coat rooms indicated in 
several of the building plans. The process for the com- 
bination of chemicals requires a water-tight receptacle of 
the proper size, which must either be made of metal or of 
concrete. It is necessary to place this tank so that a man- 
hole will extend above the ground, outside of the building 
wall, to be used in removing the contents and providing the 
means for cleaning when this is necessary. The chemical 
contents usually need removing twice each year, depend- 
ing upon the extent to which the vault is used and the 
size of the tank. Before installing such a system the 
Trustees should get advice from their county superintend- 
ent, or from some one authorized by him. 

It is very advantageous to have a water-pressure system, 
and in these days of mechanical skill even a small rural com- 
munity may have this advantage. A small plant is not very 
expensive and can be installed in the basement, since it oc- 
cupies but small space. The entire apparatus needed con- 
sists of a force pump for the well, a small gasoline engine, a 
pressure tank, and an air pump. It can be set up by any 
good plumber, and can safely be operated without mechani- 
cal skill. There are several companies that make a business 
of installing such plants at a reasonable cost, — one of the 
best known among them being the Kewanee. Here again 
good advice should be sought before undertaking to pur- 
chase such a plant. With the installation of a water-pres- 
sure system, several other improvements are made possible. 
Drinking fountains and lavatories may be installed in the 
cloak rooms by increasing the size of the compartments. 
Flush water-closets may be used by providing sewer drain- 



THE SCHOOL PLANT 73 

age. The water may be piped to the other buildings on the 
premises. A concrete swimming-tank may also be built in 
connection with the gymnasium, or perhaps outside. In 
either case, however, good drainage is necessary, and the sys- 
tem must be carefully guarded to keep it sanitary. If the 
tank is built outside, the sun's rays will provide sufficient 
heat during the warm weather; while if it is installed inside, 
en artificial means of heating must be provided. 

Water on the premises serves, moreover, as a fire protec- 
tion, and offers an opportunity for irrigation purposes. The 
lawn, flowers, and shrubs need water during some seasons 
of the year, and by its use desirable plants may be propa- 
gated to advantage. Work necessary in this connection will 
gladly be done by the children under the wise guidance of 
the teacher, and the school plant will offer added opportu- 
nities for the application of knowledge. 

A complete school plant as described -^dll mean a consid- 
erable outlay of expense, but it will at the same time repre- 
sent an institution worthy of community pride. It will offer 
a center for social activities and a place for community wor- 
ship. It may be used for grange meetings or for other farm 
gatherings. It will make possible the night school for adults, 
which is coming to be one of the best means of individual 
development resulting in community inspiration. It should 
be remembered, too, that every child of the community 
must enter the school at the age of six years and spend the 
larger portion of his "waking day" in this institution for 
at least eight years. Impressions gained during this time 
will be greatly influenced by the school home and its sur- 
roundings. The child's life will be shaped as well as his 
faculties sharpened during the days, weeks, and months 
which he spends there. Then as the home should be made 
beautiful for the purpose of influencing the family aright, so 
the school should be made a place which wiU be loved and 



74 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

revered in after years by the children, grown to manhood 
and womanhood, who have become useful citizens of a com- 
monwealth. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. Is 3'our school plant a place where you would enjoy spending six hours 
each day? 

2. How can the interest of children be secured to the extent that they 
will feel a personal responsibility for the care of the community 
buildings? 

3. To what do you attribute the lack of interest in rural school property 
which is so in evidence almost everywhere? 

4. Do you believe that your children are physically comfortable during 
the six hours they spend in the schoolroom, considering things as they 
now exist? 

5. Is your community progressive enough to desire the very best for 
their children, if the whole matter should be talked over in a fair and 
frank way? 



CHAPTER VIII 

FURNITURE AND APPARATUS 

The school should represent a homehke atmosphere, or it 
should come as near to this as is possible when the neces- 
sity for organization is considered. Perhaps it might be 
more definite to say that it should represent as many of the 
homelike comforts as possible, so that the atmosphere of the 
one will not be entirely foreign to the other. In order to do 
this it may be necessary to add to school furnishings and to 
change somewhat the accustomed plan. It is a httle diffi- 
cult to break away from well-established customs, but the 
progressive district will always readily respond to new things 
when the same can be shown to be advantageous. 

In the old-time school little furniture was provided. The 
benches were crude and often without any back rest. Pu- 
pils large and small sat on seats of equal height, the smaller 
ones being compelled to dangle their feet because they could 
not reach the floor. The discomfort of this is not fully real- 
ized until one tries it as an experiment; but when the serious 
effect is once known, no school officer or teacher will permit 
such a condition to exist. The interior of the early school- 
room presented bare walls. The small blackboard at the 
front was made by mixing in the paint charcoal and pumice. 
The shiny surface reflected the cross-light that came into the 
room from both sides. The stove in the center of the room 
was a great inconvenience, and caused those near it to suf- 
fer from heat while those in the farthest corners were handi- 
capped by being too cold. 

For some years the school premises continued to repre- 
sent an improvised place where the children were expected 



76 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

to meet for learning. The compelling force was anything 
but interest or personal pride. The common expression was, 
"sending the children to school." It was not expected that 
the child's own personal desires should "induce him to go," 
nor that he should find in the plan of organization personal 
attraction or comfort. As the school has developed through 
the years these very things have been counted of first im- 
portance. It is intended now that school shall be main- 
tained in a manner to attract the interest of the children; 
to cause a desire "to go" to school without "being sent"; to 
provide a "school home" atmosphere in order that the tran- 
sition from one to the other will not be too great. Good liv- 
ing conditions are necessary because the child spends a large 
portion of his time in his foster home, the school. He no 
longer goes there to learn to read and write and cipher, but 
goes to be taught in terms of life's needs. 

School furnishings are herewith included under two heads : 
First, that which is essential to comfort and necessary to 
good work; second, that which is desirable and advanta- 
geous to school activities. At the top of the first list we may 
place good window blinds. The best material for durability 
is duck or canvas cloth. Light brown or drab colors are 
preferable. Venetian blinds hung on hinges and fitted with 
adjustment rods give great satisfaction. These are much 
more expensive than duck blinds, and because of this cannot 
be recommended for general use. Some rays of light should 
pass through even when the curtain is drawn, and duck ma- 
terial permits the softer rays to enter the room, causing no 
glare. All window blinds should be adjustable, in order to 
secure the best lighting effect. On dark days they may be 
lowered from the top, so that the largest amount of light 
rays will enter the room. During bright weather, adjust- 
ment may be made to shut out a certain portion of the light. 
It should always be remembered that the high light is the 



FURNITURE AND APPARx\TUS 77 

best light, because the rays fall at an angle of forty-five de- 
grees and can extend into the room only twice as far as the 
tops of the windows are from the floor line. Refracted or 
reflected light rays are very harmful to the eyes; therefore 
special consideration should be given to the lighting propo- 
sition, and every means necessary to prevent eye injury 
provided. 

While it is essential to include blackboards in the general 
building scheme, they are usually listed under school fur- 
nishings. Real slate makes the best boards, and the dura- 
bility of this composition makes it cheapest in the end. The 
size needed depends upon the enrollment of the school, but 
it is an advantage to have all of the wall space at the front, 
and on the side opposite the windows, used for this pur- 
pose. If patent composition board is used it will be neces- 
sary to recoat it with hquid slating each year. A width of 
three and one half to four feet admits of the best adjustment 
for children of all sizes. It should therefore be placed low 
dovm on the wall space, so as to meet the need of the primary 
children as well as those of the upper grammar grades. 

Pupils' desks should represent comfort as well as utility. 
Different sizes should be selected for the mixed school, but 
it is an advantage to have some adjustable seats in each 
room, provided of course that the adjustment is used inteUi- 
gently. I mention this particularly because adjustable seats 
are often provided for schoolrooms, but the adjustment re- 
mains stationary year after year, resulting in no advantage. 
In some schoolrooms adjustments are so poorly made that 
bad effects are at once apparent. One side of the desk may 
be lower than the other, or the height of the seat and the top 
of the desk may be out of proportion. The seat portion 
ought to be lowered so that the child may place his feet prop- 
erly on the floor, and the desk should then be adjusted to 
give the right height for general use. The spacing on the 



78 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

floor should be arranged to give the best bodily comfort. 
The child should not be compelled to strain his back muscles 
leaning forward in using the desk, thus forcing the organs 
of his body out of their natural position. The best patent 
seat becomes ve^ rigid when fastened to the floor and can- 
not be expected to give real bodily comfort. Because of this 
it is a great advantage to provide some easy armchairs and 
rocking-chairs for each room. These may be used alter- 
nately by the children during study periods, and will pro- 
vide a means of change and rest. They may be placed in the 
room so that their use will cause no disorder, yet add much 
to the wholesome comfort of the school. 

There should be a roomy desk and an easy swivel-chair 
provided for the teacher. The chair may not be used much 
in school time, but it will provide ease and comfort for the 
teacher during intermission periods. The desk should be 
large, so that everyday material may be stored away in an 
orderly manner and brought out for use when needed. A 
bookcase of sufficient size is necessary to the proper care of 
the school librar^^ It should have closed compartments 
fitted with doors adjusted for easy access. A large wall 
clock is an aid in regulating the daily duties, and prevents 
many unnecessary questions. 

Two essential things found in all modern well-equipped 
buildings are a furnace and a bubble fountain. If there be 
no furnace, each room should be provided with a modern 
heating and ventilating plant. There are a number of pat- 
ent systems that have given satisfaction when properly in- 
stalled. The main point at issue will be to select a tested 
plant and then see that it is so arranged and installed that 
it will insure good service. A fountain or some other sani- 
tary means of providing drinking water is necessary to the 
health of the children. They ought to be given every en- 
couragement to drink often and abundantly. Water used 



FURNITURE AND APPARATUS 79 

should be tested occasionally; this can best be done by send- 
ing a sample to the State Chemist or the State Agricul- 
tural College for analysis. 

Various articles may be mentioned as "desirable furni- 
ture." An organ or piano may be considered first because 
this encourages music in the school. The piano is now really 
more appropriate than the organ because it is so commonly 
found in the home. There are always some children among 
the group who have musical talent, and an instrument of 
this kind can be made very practical. It can be used to 
advantage for evening entertainments and for district gath- 
erings. In this way it renders a large service to the en- 
tire community. The victrola is extensively used for music 
appreciation, and with well-selected records it may be made 
an educational asset as well as a means for wholesome en- 
tertainment. Well-selected pictures hung properly in the 
schoolroom add to its attractiveness and provide a nucleus 
for art study. Special consideration is given to this in 
another chapter. 

It is not unusual for a child to become ill in school. The 
very young child often becomes drowsy during the long 
afternoon because of habits formed at home. Under such 
circumstances a couch is very usable. A well-selected 
leather t^q^e is best suited to the schoolroom. It ought to 
be provided with a pillow and a blanket, and be placed in 
the room in such a way as to add a homelike atmosphere. 
Scrim curtains at the windows will serve to subdue the light, 
and at the same time add to the attractiveness within. 
Nothing is more cheery than the open fireplace, and in com- 
munities where v\^ood is plentiful, or where natural gas is 
abundant, it really becomes an inexpensive luxury. It is an 
advantage in ventilating the room, and contributes generally 
to the betterment of health by removing the carbon dioxide 
from the floor line. A reading-table placed before the open 



80 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

fireplace, to be used by pupils during leisure moments, pro- 
-sddes another item of home atmosphere. 

Many schools now provide complete furnishings for a 
kitchenette to be used for preparing a hot lunch for the noon 
meal. When the school has a domestic science department 
this is unnecessary, because one department can serve for 
both. Such an equipment is an advantage during com- 
munity social gatherings when an evening lunch is served. 
Its special value is pointed out in the chapter dealing with 
this problem. Other furnishings may be found desirable 
which have not been hsted, but the object sought has been 
to suggest some material which will help to make a "school 
home" of the kind desired by some of our most progressive 
districts. In the new order of things it may be made an 
essential part of our educational plan, and the new school- 
room may take on the appearance of a well-arranged hving- 
room adapted to a larger group of children. 

School apparatus may be listed under the same two head- 
ings; namely, the essential and the desirable. The first group 
should be selected with the greatest care because its use 
will increase classroom efficiency. A good supply of black- 
board erasers with a good device for keeping them clean 
will prove most helpful. Free textbooks are commonly 
provided by the district, and when properly handled in the 
school are both economical and advantageous. Every means 
should be used to keep them clean and in good condition. 
Book-covers and book-markers will be an aid in this. A sys- 
tematic accounting should be kept of all adopted texts, and 
the teacher should be made custodian when the school is in 
session. Good maps make history and geography more real, 
and every schoolroom should be provided with a full cabinet 
set, which has been approved for accuracy. A good quality 
of material should be selected, for constant use in the school- 
room necessitates considerable wear and tear. Mounting 



FURNITURE AND APPARATUS 81 

the rolls in a cabinet keeps them free from dust and pre- 
serves the coloring. A globe shows all geographical loca- 
tions- more accurately and more scientifically than maps, 
and may also be used to illustrate the earth's movements. 
The most expensive types are not necessary, but clear type 
and good coloring are essential to good results. A small 
call bell will be needed, provided the building is not equipped 
with the larger type. Window sticks, blackboard pointers, 
and the like can be made in the manual training shop, and 
thus serve as an incentive to make the shop-work problems 
include all schoolroom necessities. 

In the "desirable list" we must include a well-equipped 
home-economics kitchen, and a manual training shop with 
adequate tools for good service. The cook-stove will be the 
most expensive part of the home-economics equipment. 
Utensils needed should be chosen after consulting the 
teacher or other well-informed authority. State educational 
departments will always give assistance by recommending 
materials which are standard and necessary. The amount 
of equipment will depend upon the size of the classes. A 
standard sewing-machine can be used to advantage, and 
with this a good cabinet and a cutting-table are necessary. 
The entire cost of equipping such a department for both 
sewing and cookery need not be very large, and equipment 
will prove very helpful in carrying into effect the new plan 
of redirected education. In the workshop for boys, the tools 
should be of good quality and well sorted. The quantity, 
however, need not be large for the average rural school. 
Tool-cases should be built so that every tool can be kept ii 
place when not in use. It is necessary to have an adequate 
number of work benches and a simple tool-grinder. In se- 
lecting the equipment, guidance may be had from the 
teacher or from one of the state institutions where such a 
department is maintained. 



82 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

Some simple apparatus for making tests in agriculture 
may be procured at small cost, and will serve to make this 
subject more interesting. All experiments may be per- 
formed in the manual training room, where a small cabinet 
may be placed for preserving materials and for keeping the 
apparatus in order. A small amount of scientific apparatus 
will be needed for the purpose of testing sojne of the laws of 
physics and for making some discoveries in biology. Since 
the world in which we live is a great scientific laboratory, 
some means, even in the elementary school, should be pro- 
vided for the study of science. 

Playground apparatus may be made to serve a good pur- 
pose if placed advantageously on the school grounds and its 
use supervised by the teacher. Swings, teeter-boards, and 
curved slides are best adapted to the smaller children. The 
larger ones enjoy the giant stride, the merry-go-round, and 
jumping standards. All of this material is easily made and 
is inexpensive. As an illustration, the giant stride may be 
made by placing a large-sized wagon wheel upon a pole 
which has been firmly set in the ground and extends ten feet 
in the air. Four chains should be fastened to the wheel, at 
equal distances, and allowed to hang down to within five 
feet of the ground. A looped cotton rope provided at the 
end with a snap completes the apparatus. The loop end 
should extend down to within two feet of the ground. When 
not assigned for use this rope attachment should be un- 
snapped and kept in the care of the teacher. A merry-go- 
round represents an even more simple construction. Two 
pieces of two by four dimension material may be spiked to- 
gether, in the form of a cross, and placed on top of a post 
thirty inches tall which has been firmly set in the ground. 
An inch iron pin at the top of the post should extend through 
a hole made in the center of the cross sweeps. Durability 
and strength will be added by placing a metal plate above 



FURNITURE AND APPARATUS 83 

and below the sweeps for the iron pin to pass through. 
Other devices mentioned are of simple construction and may 
be made by any schoolboy who has a mechanical turn of 
mind. Patterns and directions for making of playground 
apparatus may be had from most state institutions. The 
pupils of the school may be organized into groups and al- 
lowed to choose their own censors and direct their own games. 
In so far as they are able to do this satisfactorily they de- 
velop independence, individuality, and leadership, — all of 
which are very important characteristics. 

Some one has said that "cleanliness is next to godliness," 
and this applies to good housekeeping in the schoolroom the 
same as in the home. To do this well it is necessary to have 
good cleaning material and disinfectants. Some States reg- 
ulate this through the State Board of Health, but when no 
such provision is made the School Board should see to it that 
proper attention is given to the matter. There are a num- 
ber of materials used to prevent dust, but each one requires 
care and judgment in its use. A bristle brush with long 
flexible bristles makes a better sweeper than the ordinary 
broom. It is best adapted for working under and about the 
desks, and makes a very practical tool. A disinfectant 
should be used at least twice during the year at times when 
the school has been adjourned for vacation. Materials used 
should have the approval of the county health officer, or 
other reliable authority. During a time when contagious 
diseases are prevalent, the disinfectant should be used fre- 
quently. If there is no local health officer, the county phy- 
sician will alw^ays give directions as to how to use preven- 
tives and how best to preserve good health conditions. 

Soap and water are always necessary after play, and so 
some adequate arrangement should be made for cleansing 
the hands and face. If a pressure water-system has been in- 
stalled it is easy to provide lavatory equipment. If this has 



84 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

not been done, some other means for washing will be neces- 
sary. The overflow water saved from the drinking tank may 
well be utilized for this purpose. A metal-lined trough 
equipped with drainage will serve as a good place in which to 
set wash basins. If there is a well on the school premises a 
similar outside arrangement may be made for use during 
pleasant weather. 

As a last word School Boards are urged to purchase all of 
their material from local reliable firms, and to look askance 
upon the ordinary agent who simply has something to sell. 
Standard lists of school supplies are often approved by the 
County Superintendent of Schools, and may be had for the 
asking. It is always well to seek the advice and the counsel 
of this office when materials are needed, for by so doing 
many mistakes may be avoided. Feel free also to call upon 
your State School Superintendent also for assistance and 
advice, for every public school in the State is under the gen- 
eral supervision of that office and is therefore entitled to 
request its help whenever needed. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What permanent loss can come to your children because of poor 
equipment in the schoolroom? 

2. What do you consider essential to form good working equipment, and 
to provide a wholesome environment? 

3. How can a community be made so attractive to young people that 
they are entirely satisfied with their social surroundings? 

4. Do you consider community pride advantageous in creating commu- 
nity leadership? 

5. Does your school have a reputation which is definitely known and 
recognized outside of your own district? 



CHAPTER IX 

SCHOOLROOM DECORATIONS 

The present age has developed more of a general aesthetic 
taste than has been developed throughout past time. We 
may not have produced as many great artists, but a keen 
sense of appreciation is found among all our people. Art 
in our schools, art in our homes, and the beautiful and the 
lovely everywhere in nature have made silent impressions 
upon the individual lives of our citizens, with the result that 
they are now applying great artistic truths in all the works 
of their own creation. Never has the world known such 
opportunities for the study of art and for the appreciation 
of the really artistic as are presented to us just now. Our 
buildings everywhere are coming to be designed by skilled 
architects, and the structures become real works of art. 
The plans represent carefully worked-out proportions, hav- 
ing a complete symmetrical arrangement. The interiors 
are well planned, representing harmony in the proper pro- 
portions throughout. Furniture is chosen not only with 
reference to ease and comfort, but also with such good taste 
that the whole setting presents a harmonious effect. These 
things were first noticed in the cities, but we now find many 
rural communities as much given to aesthetic enjoyment as 
the urban populations. The new type of the rural school 
home is very striking, and, when representing an artistic 
atmosphere, it stands as a real demonstration of neighbor- 
hood ideals. 

All of this has gradually come out of the repeated obser- 
vation that the normal child is able to reach a broader, higher 
development and to become a better and happier individual 



86 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

amid beautiful home surroundings. It follows that children 
who have the opportunity to come into such an environ- 
ment during the greater part of the day will develop that 
natural poise, careful judgment, and self-confidence that are 
necessary to their educational advancement, and become 
fitted as men and women proper to represent a strong nation 
and a great people. The school, as well as the home, must 
recognize this as a great necessity, and so make these in- 
dividual truths a living reality through school and home 
decoration. 

It has been said that small village and country places have 
not made rapid progress in this particular direction because 
such progress entails an expenditure not always available. 
But this can no longer be urged as a handicap, for much has 
been done and is being done with just the available materials 
at hand, when directed by one interested in artistic devel- 
opment. In the school there is one great need, — the en- 
thusiastic influence of the teacher to bring out the spon- 
taneous interest and assistance of the children. The law of 
order is universal and impelling. This is the first step into 
the realm of beauty and harmony. Every good teacher in- 
sists upon neatness and order in the arrangement of school 
materials, and thus early begins development of a perma- 
nent aesthetic taste. 

If it becomes necessary to begin the work without funds, 
the teacher must open her eyes and take an inventory of the 
possibilities. She has all nature to draw from, and what a 
splendid opportunity is presented through it to teach the 
child simple effective decorations in color, representing suita- 
ble harmony and arrangement ! It is quite important in the 
beginning to teach the difference between decorations for 
special occasions, and those that may remain in the school- 
room permanently. Decorations in profusion arouse the 
emotions, and cause a greater or less excitement in the minds 



SCHOOLROOM DECORATIONS 87 

of the children. To continue this excitement, though pleas- 
ant at first, will ultimately lead to distraction and confusion, 
and has at last a tendency to pall on the mind. Because 
of this, such a plan must be used only for special occasions. 
Our everyday decorative plan should therefore be much 
more simple than that used for special-day occasions, and 
the room should present a cheery, happy appearance, having 
an atmosphere of quietude and a soothing effect upon the 
children. 

One large bunch of autumn foliage sprays, cut different 
lengths, arranged loosely so that they fall into natural posi- 
tions and set against a plain backgroimd, so that the light 
from the side may play over it and bring out the warm glow 
of color and gradation of tint, makes infinitely better im- 
pressions than bunches scattered here and there throughout 
the room. The former setting admits of a change in plan 
and arrangement that will bring new delight and pleasure 
to those in the room, and hence may be recommended as 
entirely fitting. Plants placed between the children and the 
light appear only in silhouette, and hence fail to awaken the 
proper artistic appreciation. It is well, therefore, to study 
the background and its effect upon the decoration, to the 
same degree that you study the materials to be used in your 
foreground. A screen makes a very good background, and 
is often used in our large rooms to assist in the general effect. 
A waste-paper basket makes a very good holder in which 
foliage will keep for a month or two; and it may be noticed 
that the colors will seem gradually to blend into the harmony 
of the room. It should be remembered that the greatest 
beauty can be brought out only through proper arrange- 
ment. 

In all schoolroom decorations the teacher and the pupil 
should work together. They should select and reject their 
materials until their color scheme and harmony are perfect, 



88 HANDBOOK FOE RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

and should study the setting until the best decorative im- 
pressions are produced. Children are easily interested, and 
the work becomes realistic to them when they have a part 
in the plan of arrangement. This affords a means of de- 
velopment which is not found in the same degree in any 
other school motive. The influence is greater because the 
children have acquired their knowledge by working out the 
plan and the interest is correspondingly keener because of 
the part which they have had in it. 

Blackboard decoration should be Hmited. These boards 
are provided primarily for use during daily lessons and are 
very necessary to the promotion of good work. They should, 
however, be kept properly, and all materials placed thereon 
which are to be left for any time should represent care and 
neatness. Monthly calendars may be made by using toned 
wrapping paper, or building paper, with the assistance of 
colored crayons, and are really more artistic and more effec- 
tive than those drawn upon the blackboard. Other neces- 
sary helps may be made in a similar way, all of which should 
represent a simple yet artistic design. Much of the crepe 
paper is too gaudy and too distracting in color and composi- 
tion for the proper artistic effect in a good schoolroom. If 
a border is to be used it should represent subdued colors with 
proper tone effect. Borders of any kind arranged above the 
blackboards interfere with pictures hung on the wall. Both 
should not be used, because it is improper to hang pictures 
over a border, and to place them above it makes them 
entirely too high for proper effect. 

Posters, programs, notices, and like materials may be made 
by the children, and, whenever worthy, should be placed 
upon the wall space or in the comer of the room in such 
a manner as to give a wholesome effect. A well-planned, 
correctly lettered program should be provided for every 
schoolroom, and should be placed in such a manner as not to 



SCHOOLROOM DECORATIONS 89 

interfere in any way with the pictures or with the real deco- 
rations of the room. It may be placed at the rear of the 
room, because it is not meant for special decorative j^urposes, 
and ought not to divert the minds of the children during 
their regular study hours. All work honored in this way 
should represent the very best efforts of the children, thereby 
making it creditable to the school as well. All of this work 
should be trimmed before it is mounted, and should be ar- 
ranged to make a pleasing exhibit. 

If the schoolroom is large enough, a library and small 
reading-room may be set apart in one corner. A good book- 
case should be provided, and the children should be en- 
couraged to make the necessary book-ends and blotter pads. 
The necessary space may be set off by curtains of neat 
design, which have been stenciled by the pupils under the 
direction of the teacher. This will give a splendid opportu- 
nity to teach border, neatness, proportion, color, harmony, 
and good taste. A home-made rug will add very much to 
the attractiveness of the setting, and the children will find 
it all a very pleasing enjoyment and a means of educational 
advancement. 

If a district is able to provide some funds for decorative 
purposes, good pictures, artistic vases, and well-chosen 
pottery should be provided. It is very much better to 
choose one good picture, well framed, than to choose a num- 
ber of the poorer type. We must keep in mind the fact that 
the children must enjoy the picture through the story it 
represents, rather than through the picture itself. Pictures, 
then, should be chosen which are not too difficult to under- 
stand, and which represent an intimate sympathy with 
child-life rather than those which represent w^ell-known 
paintings. We can now secure reproductions of almost all 
the masterpieces in art at very reasonable prices. And be- 
cause of this, the greatest care should be exercised in clioos- 



90 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

ing a picture which will appeal to the children. Whenever 
any picture is chosen for the schoolroom, the teacher should 
at once procure the brief story of its life setting, and should 
familiarize the children with this so that they may under- 
stand the motive of the great artist who produced it. Large 
pictures are very much better for wall decorations than 
small ones, because the lines are very much more distinct 
and may be easily recognized at a distance. 

There are many pictures which are equally good for school- 
room decoration, but it is well, before choosing, to become 
familiar with the subject, through some such authority as 
Mrs. L. L. Wilson's Stories on Masterpieces in Arty before 
making a final selection. Schreyer is an artist that children 
easily understand in subject-matter, and his works are 
splendid in composition, with excellent settings arranged in 
light and dark colors. Lerolle's Shepherd Scenes are excellent, 
and the children love the stories connected with them. 
Schreyer 's Arab Scouts represents a typical Arabian scene. 
The cavalcade, in gay Arabian dress, the splendid action of 
the horses, appeal to the imagination of the child and stir his 
appreciation for picturesqueness, for splendidness, and for 
the adventurous and spectacular. The Arabian chief on his 
horse is the center of interest, both as to the subject-matter 
and to composition. The splendid spirited animal, with his 
light, high step, and his beautiful, shining, dappled coat, 
stands out in bold relief against a dark background. The 
other figures add to the energy and action of the whole com- 
position, though they are less prominent in tone as they 
appear only in the distance. The robed Arab at the left bal- 
ances the mass of light made by the great horse of the chief. 
Notice the horizontal division of space — about one third 
sky and two thirds ground — which adds material interest 
to the composition by allowing more light, thereby giving 
more character to the scenery which appears in the back- 



SCHOOLROOM DECORATIONS 91 

ground. Add to this little picture study the motives which 
caused the artists to give expression in this form, and 
Vv'e have in our picture real personality expressed in art. 
Tlie picture given may not be one most desirable for the 
school, but the plan is offered simply as a type-study to be 
considered in connection with any picture chosen. 

Before any picture is placed the wall space should be 
studied with reference to size and proper lighting effect, then 
suit the picture to the wall space in such a way that it will 
not look overcrowded nor lost in the vastness of its surround- 
ings. Whenever possible, pictures should be hung at about 
the eye level, because this gives to us the proper vision. If 
they are placed above the blackboard, the bottom should be 
at least four inches above the moulding and they should be 
tilted sufficiently to be viewed at right angles from the cen- 
ter of the room. Suspend all pictures from the moulding by 
means of two hooks, using a wire on each side, thus avoiding 
improper alignment. 

If the teacher is uncertain about the setting she should 
try it out from different angles, placing the picture in differ- 
ent parts of the room to gain the necessary information. 
Both teacher and pupils will gain much information from 
studying pictures on the walls of different art galleries or in 
art windows of the city, and such a plan ought to be en- 
couraged as a means of knowing at first hand the symmetry 
and the harmony which are found in art. 

Do not spoil a good picture by poor framing. The width 
of the frame, the color and design, should all harmonize with 
the work of art. Generally speaking, no mat, but greater 
width of frame is to be desired. Prints in sepia as well as the 
ordinary carbons should be framed in the plainer woods, 
while colored prints adapt themselves better to a gilt-finished 
frame with a decorated moulding. These prints, however, 
represent a harmonious design when they are framed with 



92 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

mouldings having a color tone harmonizing with the tones 
in the picture or repeating them. It is always well to have 
framing done by an artist who understands this work in all 
of its phases. 

Since the earliest time vases have been used for decorative 
purposes, and when well chosen and artistically placed they 
still hold an interesting place in this particular field. In 
this creative work man has always put into constructive 
form the ideals of his mind, and the beauty in it lies in its 
symmetry, its harmony in coloring, and in its shape. It may 
be said that this particular kind of art appeals less to chil- 
dren than that of picture study and design. The same may 
be said of pottery, though it is used in a plainer way to 
represent the creative genius. It would be well perhaps to 
provide only a small amount of each for the Ordinary school- 
room, but both can be used to an advantage in many prac- 
tical ways, and ought to have a place because of this special 
quality. 

What has been said of beautifying the schoolroom applies 
also to the beautifying of the homes of the neighborhood; 
greater artistic taste tends also to establish a more aesthetic 
ideal, and altogether has a wonderful influence over the eth- 
ical nature. The beautiful and the good go hand in hand, 
though specific cases have been cited to the contrary. It 
is admitted without question that there are exceptions to all 
rules, but time has given us ample proof that goodness and 
greatness in man are linked closely with the beautiful por- 
trayed in his life. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What are some of the best means of making the child love his home, 
love his school, love his country? 

2. Can we teach about the good and the beautiful to an advantage xmless 
our surroundings portray these characteristics? 



SCHOOLROOM DECORATIONS 93 

S. France lays great stress in its public schools on color and design — 
What effect has this had on the textile fabrics produced by that 
country? 

4. Is it possible that color effects in the home and in the school may have 
some effect upon the dispositions of those who see them daily? 

5. Why does a beaut if id landscape painting appear more attractive to 
the average individual than the real landscape itself as it is endowed 
by nature's coloring? 



CHAPTER X 
SELECTING THE TEACHER 

The most important element necessary to school success is 
the teacher. She represents the human dynamo that con- 
verts the energy of the school into a working power. Her 
personality becomes the pervading element which silently 
shapes the plastic minds of those who look to her each day 
for direction. Truly has it been said, "As the teacher is, so 
is the school." As she thinks, as she acts, as she works — 
so will the school follow in her footsteps. Especially is this 
true in the elementary school, because children are more 
susceptible to influences and stronger in their power of imi- 
tation than are older people. 

The teacher's work in the schoolroom not only directs the 
lives of the children, but it becomes a strong factor in shap- 
ing the destiny of the Nation, because as the children think, 
act, and feel, so also must these things react in the men and 
women a little older grown. The importance of this period, 
then, cannot be overestimated. The school as a destiny- 
making machine-shop must not be underrated, and the 
teacher as a pattern-maker becomes the master mechanic. 
No business firm would choose a novice to direct its techni- 
cal work and become responsible for a high-grade product. 
The same applies to the school with greater significance, be- 
cause human lives represent the product being shaped and 
fashioned by this educational factory. It has been urged, 
and rightly, that education is never-ending; that it draws 
from every conceivable source which affects life directly or 
indirectly; but, after all, the manner in which these things 
affect the individual depends upon his attitude of mind. 



SELECTING THE TEACHER 95 

which attitude is fashioned during his early years. If 
credit is to be given to the school for its part in shaping our 
civilization, it must be held responsible for a high grade of 
workmanship. To do this the trained teacher becomes a 
necessity. 

There is an old adage that "teachers are born and not 
made"; but modern investigation has established the fact 
that without the process of making, the teacher must re- 
main in the unskilled class. She may be bom with adap- 
tation for such work, but with no quickening process her 
adaptable characteristics may remain latent potentialities 
which have not been converted into usable power. We can- 
not deny the fact that a small number have attained success 
without having had the advantages of a professional school. 
Such prove the exception rather than the rule, and, had the 
advantage of special training been given them, a greater 
measure of success would surely have resulted. But should 
this ancient belief be true, the number of public-school teach- 
ers now required make it an unsafe practice to follow. 
Five hundred thousand are required to direct the work in 
the elementary schools, and this number is being materially 
increased each year. Such a body of skilled workers can be 
had only by providing a proper means for technical prepa- 
ration. 

This was clearly conceived a number of years ago when the 
Normal School was organized as a special educational agency 
for training teachers in the art of schoolroom management 
by using the practice school to establish well-defined prin- 
ciples of teaching. The worth of these institutions is best 
evidenced by the fact that they have been multiplied in 
number by most of the States, and that they have been 
given larger and larger support each year. Moreover, 
although the number of teachers prepared in these schools 
has increased many fold, the demand continues to be greater 



96 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

than the supply. The importance of this work has been so 
fully established that some four hundred colleges and uni- 
versities have organized departments of education to supple- 
ment the work done by the normal schools and by teachers' 
colleges. 

Speaking recently before a large audience, Commissioner 
P. P. Claxton, of the National Bureau of Education, made 
the following statement : 

The work of the Normal School for professionally trained teach- 
ers is so important, so valuable, so necessary, that we should estab- 
lish a sufficient number of State Normal Schools to provide every 
rural school with a professionally trained teacher, even if we have 
to take the necessary money to do this from the state common 
school fund. In the end this would give a better policy of business 
economy than our present short-sighted policy, which is expensive 
and which sorely neglects our rural school in the matter of properly 
trained teachers. This is evident by the fact that there are over 
one hundred and fifty thousand juvenile teachers teaching in the 
rural schools of our country at this time, with less than high school 
education and with no professional trainiag. 

In commending our rural school improvement, Dr. J. L. 
McBrien, of the National Bureau of Education, said: 

The only way to have good rural schools is to have better rural 
teachers. The only way to have better teachers is to require all 
who aspire to teach to make due preparation. 

Colonel Parker, who has been recognized as a great "teacher 
of teachers," expressed his feelings in the matter as follows: 

"What priceless legacy can we leave to the millions yet to be than 
to make it possible for our spiritual descendants to be so educated 
and so trained that they will, under God, effectually work out the 
destiny of this mighty continent, and through it the destiny of all 
humanity. 

Because of the new demands made upon the school, sev- 
eral of the States have recently taken advanced steps by 
passing laws requiring all teachers to have some professional 



SELECTING THE TEACHER 97 

training. Usually provisions are made to increase the re- 
quirement gradually, so that in time a high standard of effi- 
ciency will be reached. Very few normal schools have 
reached the limit of their capacity, and many more teachers 
could be handled each year by the institutions already estab- 
lished. The great need, therefore, is a general recognition 
of the important position which the school holds, made man- 
ifest through a demand by the people that only specially 
qualified and highly skilled teachers be given charge of this 
important work. 

School directors have a right to look to the normal schools 
of their State to train teachers in a manner to satisfy all rea- 
sonable expectations. They have a right to depend upon 
these institutions to furnish an honest estimate of the ability 
and the personal characteristics of the teacher who makes 
application for a position. They have a right to expect a 
reasonable measure of success from this specially prepared 
teacher, provided of course that she is given the support of 
the Board and the cooperation of the patrons of the district. 

There are certain personal qualities which the teacher 
ought to possess, among which should be mentioned a per- 
fect and healthy body, a pleasing voice, and a happy dis- 
position. She should be painstaking and orderly in her 
habits; honest and truthful, patient and tactful. Her char- 
acter must be above reproach. She must possess a love for 
children. The teacher becomes a strong personal factor in 
the child's education, and the lessons are individualized 
through her influence. If she is strong and forceful in 
character, the lessons will take on the spirit of her individ- 
uality. If she is courteous in manner, the school is sure 
to take on an atmosphere of courtesy. These qualities in 
the teacher beget interest in the hardest task, and add a 
charm to the facts on the printed page. They create greater 
desire for knowledge and inspire the pupils to greater effort. 



98 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

The man of Galilee was addressed by the secretary of the 
Jewish Sanhedrin as the "Great Teacher." The "Book" 
emphasized His work as a Teacher, rather than as a Preacher. 
We find many references such as the following: "And He 
taught the multitude"; "He entered the synagogue on the 
Sabbath Day and taught the people"; "And He taught his 
disciples, saying, — " Through His work we have exemplified 
the gi-eat desire to administer to others; we discern the per- 
sistent effort which He exercised in presenting His lessons of 
truth, and we feel the joy of the unrequited love which He 
bore for all mankind. His teachings suggested pedagogical 
principles which are worthy of emulation by the teacher of 
to-day. The work which He wrought as a teacher two thou- 
sand years ago stands as an everlasting monument to the 
training of mind and heart, for every individual of the pres- 
ent time has been directly or indirectly influenced by the 
lessons He taught. His work is not offered by way of com- 
parison, but rather as a means of inspiration for the im- 
provement of this work which we have in charge. There is, 
however, a relationship between the two, because the achieve- 
ment in each instance involves a larger and a more complete 
life. 

If the teacher possesses vision, she will bring to the en- 
tire school a greater appreciation of their own community. 
She will instill in the minds of her pupils a high regard for 
those who have made wise provisions for school advantages. 
She will imbue them with a greater love for their country, 
and give them a better understanding and a greater appre- 
ciation of government. She will impress them with a high 
regard for good and noble citizenship. She will point out to 
them the value of friendship, and the joy that may come 
through human association. These things may be made in- 
cidental to regular assigned lessons, but they can never be 
accidental when the good teacher is in charge. 



SELECTING THE TE.VCHER 99 

The dress and taste of the teacher has not been mentioned, 
but it cannot be altogether overlooked. Neatness and 
cleanliness adds to personality as well as to attractiveness. 
The teacher's taste should be wholesome and should never 
represent the extreme. She should keep in the foreground 
the old adage, "Example is greater than precept." Her 
social customs ought to be worthy of imitation. A goodly 
address, an obliging manner, and a courteous attitude, all 
add to her charm at school as well as at a social gathering. 
Words of advice given by such a teacher will be strikingly 
more forceful than those of one who simply says, "Don't do 
as I do, but do as I tell you to do." No child should ever be 
compelled to say of his teacher under his breath, "How can 
I hear what you say, when what you are is ringing in my 
ears?" 

Every experienced School Board member knows how nec- 
essary it is to investigate thoroughly the merit of a teacher 
before giving her employment. She should never be selected 
for personal qualities alone, nor should she be chosen be- 
cause of the legal papers she holds. The School Board must 
see to it that she possesses both the qualities and the quali- 
fications most to be desired. But little dependence can be 
placed on letters of recommendation which an applicant 
carries around. Often the teacher with the largest number 
of letters is the one not to be employed. Certainly a candi- 
date carrying such letters as the following ought not to be 
given serious consideration: 

Walkerville School District 
Hudson County 

To 2vhom it may concern: 

This is to say that the bearer, Mary Alpaugh, taught in our 
district last year for a term of six months. She possesses a good 
education, has taught in a number of places, is a young woman of 
high Clu^istian character, has an attractive personal manner, and 



100 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

tries hard to please. The trustees of this district wish her success 
in any work she may in the future undertake. For the Board, 

John Boardman, Clerk. 



A teacher carrying such a recommendation might have 
been dismissed for incompetency as a teacher, and every- 
thing said in the letter still be true. The letter tells nothing 
that a school board wants to know. A safe plan to follow is 
to consult with the County Superintendent, and to secure 
personal letters, written directly to the Board, from those 
who know of the applicant's training and success and are 
qualified to judge of her worth and who are willing to give 
an honest judgment of the applicant's adaptation and abil- 
ity. When in need of a teacher it is an advantage to write 
to the President or Appointment Secretary of one of the 
state normal schools, and ask them to recommend instruc- 
tors who possess such qualifications as are needed in any 
given school. All such schools make it their business to 
answer such requests. It is the duty of every School Board 
to employ every available means to secure a desirable 
teacher before applying *to a teachers' agency for candi- 
dates. The skilled teacher should never be compelled to 
seek employment through a bureau of this kind, because it 
does not afford the best means of furnishing first-hand in- 
formation to those charged with the selecting of a teacher. 
When there is a complete standardization of teachers and a 
better organization for the administration of our educational 
plan, relying upon teachers* agencies will be unnecessary. 
But till then it may have to be resorted to when an emer- 
gency arises. 

On receiving visits from teachers desiring a position School 
Board members should be careful not to make individual 
promises. No member should promise a teacher to vote for 
her. The place to decide such matters is in School Board 



i 



SELECTING THE TEACHER 101 

meeting, and after all of the evidence has been examined 
and the different applicants discussed and their papers and 
credentials compared. 

All of the individual qualities which have been mentioned 
as desirable in teachers are not likely to be found in one 
single individual; it will therefore be necessary to exercise 
good judgment in determining just how fully the standard 
may be reached. In this connection, too, school officers 
must recognize the necessity of paying a larger salary to the 
highly skilled teacher. The education of such a teacher has 
been more costly than that of those less highly trained, and 
a longer time has been spent in securing it; consequently, in 
fairness to her, these things must be taken into account. 
Everywhere in the industrial field this principle is recog- 
nized, and the wage scale of the skilled mechanic is increased 
proportionally to his ability. This has not been practiced 
in our schools, largely because school officers have not been 
able to measure in advance the worth of the teacher they 
employ. This they must be able to do in the future, else 
some other official means will be employed by the public to 
insure less frequent mistakes. The salary paid must govern 
school officers in the quality of service which they have a 
right to expect; on the other hand, the teacher's ability to 
serve must govern her in the compensation which she has a 
right to demand. A fixed salary basis, therefore, does not 
allow the necessary flexibility, and cannot be followed to 
advantage, because the amount paid to a good teacher sets 
the standard for the one who is employed later, but who is 
less efficient, and vice versa. 

^Vhen a teacher has been selected by the school, every 
effort should be made to produce conditions in the district 
which will increase her chances for succeeding. If no "teach- 
erage" exists she should be provided with the best possi- 
ble boarding place, given a good quiet room with means for 



102 HANDBOOK FOR BimAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

heating it, and she should receive the strongest cooperation 
in her plan of work. Without this, success is minimized; 
with it, a large measure of success is assured. It should be 
remembered that no individual ever succeeds alone; and 
this is doubly true of the teacher who is called upon to sat- 
isfy all families of the neighborhood whose children she 
teaches each day. Every commendation of the home results 
in better work in the school. Every appreciation of ap- 
proval makes easier the daily tasks. Every agency within 
the district can become a positive force for increasing the 
school efficiency; and the value of all this turns back to those 
who have helped to create it. The responsibilities, then, of 
school officers and of patrons do not cease when the teacher 
has been employed; but, if the choice has been a wise one, it 
w^ill be easier to ally the influence of the neighborhood in 
helping to make the school the pride of the community. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What are the special points of advantage which may be gained from a 
personal interview with a teacher who is an applicant for your school? 

2. In investigating a teacher for her real worth and adaptation, do you 
believe ordinary recommendations reliable? — Would you get more 
reliable information by asking for personal letters from those who are 
qualified to judge of the teacher's work at first hand? 

3. What special characteristics in teachers are most important when 
school trustees are weighing the worth of candidates to be selected? — 
Would it not be well for trustees to make a list of a number of qualities 
which they would expect in a teacher suited to direct a school properly? 

4. What plan has your community for working with the school in the 
interest of better school advantages for your children? 

5. To what extent will it add to a teacher's value if she has a good board- 
ing place, with pleasant surroundings? 

6. Should teachers be paid according to their personal worth and the 
service they are able to render to the community, or should they be 
paid in accordance with a set salary schedule? — How can this be 
made to apply to teachers who have already served the comm unity 
well for a school year? How to new teachers? 



CHAPTER XI 

SPECIAL OFFICIAL DUTIES 

The School Trustees usually accept the work of this office 
as a matter of duty. They do it because they are interested 
in education, and are willing to do their part in advancing 
the community welfare. To serve well involves an en- 
croachment upon their time which may involve a considera- 
ble personal loss. In order to obviate this to the largest 
possible degree it is necessary to have the very best organ- 
ization and the best plan for dispatching business, use the 
minimum amount of time, and yet secure the maximum 
amount of efficiency. Strictly business principles should 
therefore be the guiding influences in all official acts, and a 
working basis should be agreed upon as a guide for each 
member. 

In order to be certain that no lawful requirements be 
overlooked, it is well to work out a school calendar based 
upon the official board duties set forth in the School Code. 
It should take every item in turn as it is specified, and with 
the calendar date in regular order. To illustrate this the 
following suggestion is made : 



YEARLY SCHOOL CALENDAR 
1919 

July 1. Opening of School Year. 

July 10. Regular Quarterly Meeting of the Board. 

July 15. Clerk's Report to County Superintendent. 

July 17. Letting contract for improvement of school premises. Bids open. 

July 20. Contract for yearly supply of fuel. Bids open. 

Aug. 1. Approved budget presented to County Auditor. 

Aug. 20. Transport ai ion contracts for the year. Bids open. Contract 

for janitor service. Bids open. 

Sept. 13. Inspection of school premises for opening of school. 



104 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

1919 
Sept. 15. Opening of school. 
Sept. 26. Visiting Day for first month. 
Oct. 10. Monthly Meeting for dramng teacher*s warrant, paying monthly 

bills and janitor service. 
Oct. 31. Visiting Day for second month. 
Nov. 7. Monthly Meeting for drawing teacher's warrant, paying 

monthly bills and janitor service. 
Nov. 27. Thanksgiving Holiday, 
Dec. 5. Monthly Meeting for drawing teacher's salary, paying monthly 

bills and janitor service. 
Dec. 24. Holiday Vacation begins Wednesday evening. 

1920. 
Jan. 5. Holiday Session closes Monday morning. 
Jan. 16. Monthly Meeting for paying teacher's salary, monthly bills, 

and janitor service. 
Feb. 7. Comity Trustees Meeting called by County Superintendent. 
Feb. 12. Special School Program — Lincoln's Birthday. 
Feb. 13. Special Visiting Day. 
Feb. 13. Monthly Meeting for paying teacher's salary, monthly bills, and 

janitor service. 
Feb. 14. Valentine Program, 8.00 p.m. 
Feb. 22. Patriotic Program, Washington's Birthday. 
Feb. 24. Posting School Election Notices. 
March 6. School Election. 
March 12. Monthly Meeting, drawing teacher's warrant, paying monthly 

bills, and janitor service. 
March 26. Easter Program, Friday afternoon. 
April 3. Special Meeting for making of Annual School Budget. 
April 9. Regular Monthly Meeting for drawing teacher's warrant, paying 

monthly bills, janitor service. 
May 1. Taking School Census. 
May 7. Monthly Meeting for drawing teacher's warrant, paying monthly 

bills, janitor service. 
May 15. Special meeting for approval of Clerk's School Census Report. 

Saturday evening. 
May 28. School Closing Exercise — Friday morning 10.00 a.m. 
Community Day Dinner at Schoolhouse — Noon. 
Public Meeting for drawing teacher's warrant, paying all unpaid 

bills, janitor service. — 1.00 o'clock. 
Picnic — 2.00 o'clock. 

Inspection of building and premises — 4.00 o'clock. 
June 1. Report of special tax to County Superintendent and County 

Auditor. 
June 30. Close of School Year. 



SPECIAL OFFICIAL DUTIES 105 

The above calendar can be varied to suit the requirements 
of any State, any county, or any school district. Of course, 
the definite lawful dates would not change from year to year, 
but the calendar could be made flexible in arranging for spe- 
cial programs and for special patriotic duties. Such a cal- 
endar will be found most valuable in preventing the Board 
from overlooking any important duties, because each mem- 
ber may have a copy of it for his own personal use. It is 
important that reports be made at the proper time and in 
accordance with the law. Full instructions can always be 
had from the County Superintendent if it is not clearly 
specified in the School Code. All bills should be audited 
and paid promptly. This necessitates the regular monthly 
meeting of the Board, though this can be done at evening 
time and quickly disposed of if there is a definite under- 
standing and a regular plan for the discharge of all business. 

It is always a good policy in spending public money in any 
large amount to provide means for use of bids and contracts. 
In many States this is required by law, but even when this 
is not required it offers a safeguard to oflBcers and provides 
greatest assurance for the wise expenditure of public money. 
This should apply to buildings, improvements, annual sup- 
ply of fuel, books and apparatus, and any other expenditure 
of money amounting to fifty dollars or more. 

At the time when the Board of Trustees complete their 
regular organization, they should proceed at once to make 
rules and regulations governing their official acts having to 
do with the use of the schoolhouse for other purposes than 
the regular school work. They should provide for a definite 
plan of admitting children from other school districts, and 
the general transportation of pupils when this is necessary. 
They should agree upon a plan for making the necessary 
legal notices required by law. If there is a plan w^hereby 
the local district must share with the other districts in main- 



106 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

taining a high school, definite plans should be worked out 
and agreed upon both in finances and in government. All 
reports required by law should be made out by the Clerk 
and officially examined and approved by all the Trustees 
at an authorized meeting. All state, county, and district 
funds should be kept in regular order, and should be paid 
out in accordance with law. The books should be audited 
at regular intervals by the entire Board of Trustees. 

It is important that the Trustees meet with the teacher 
at the opening of school, and give her assurance of their co- 
operation and the unanimous support of the Board of Trus- 
tees. At this time definite directions should be given to 
the teacher concerning supplies and material, and how she 
should proceed in case of need to procure the necessities for 
additional school materials and service. She should be 
given charge of the janitor work, and assured that the Board 
of Trustees approve of cleanliness and the very best sani- 
tary conditions in the interest of good health. A monthly 
meeting should be announced to be held at the close of each 
month for the purpose of auditing promptly all bills and 
drawing warrants for monthly salaries. It should be remem- 
bered that the teacher may have made her financial plans 
with the understanding that her monthly warrant will be 
drawn regularly, and that it would be very disconcerting as 
well as disappointing to her if the Board should fail in this. 
No debt, however small, should be overlooked in the audit- 
ing of the monthly accounts. It will be found much easier 
as well as much more satisfactory to be prompt with all pay- 
ments, and the district that does this will soon gain a repu- 
tation for its businesslike methods. It is important for 
every district to keep on a good financial basis, and to be able 
to pay cash for all of its current expenses. There is a limit 
of indebtedness provided by the laws of most States, and 
this must be adliered to in providing for extensive improve- 



SPECIAL OFFICLVL DUTIES 107 

ments which would necessitate bond issue or special current 
indebtedness. 

The Constitution of the United States and the Constitu- 
tion of the several States provide that the right of petition 
shall not be abridged. This is a means which the people 
have of expressing their wishes and desires, and is necessary 
in a democratic form of government. School Trustees 
should, therefore, be willing to give consideration to any pe- 
tition, presented to them by the patrons of the district or 
by the pupils of the school, setting forth their recommenda- 
tions or requests. 

All States make special provisions for the care of de- 
fective youth, and it usually falls upon the school district 
officers to see to it that the provisions of law are made effec- 
tive. If there are any unfortunate children of this character 
in the district it is important that the matter be taken up 
by the County Superintendent, in order that some provision 
be made for their proper care and education through the 
means which the State has provided. The names of such 
children should appear on the Clerk's annual report, with 
proper notations and explanations, as provided for in the 
School Code. There are special forms furnished to the dis- 
tricts for the making of all reports, and any Clerk can secure 
a supply by writing to the County Superintendent if these 
are not found in the regular supply envelopes which are 
usually sent out at the opening of the school year. 

The lawful contract should be made and signed in tripli- 
cate on the day of the opening of the school, if it has not 
been arranged before, and one copy retained by each of the 
contracting parties and the third forwarded to the County 
Superintendent of Schools. It is important that the teacher 
keep the daily register properly, because upon the accuracy 
of this depends the amount of school revenue which comes 
to the district in many States. The Directors must see that 



108 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

this is properly kept, and that the teacher makes all reports 
required by law to the County Superintendent of Schools. 
These reports must be accurate, and often must be approved 
by the Board of Trustees before they can be accepted by the 
county officer. It is important to see that the teacher's 
certificate is registered in the county, because the same must 
be valid or the district jeopardizes its revenues. 

Specimen copies of all the forms used in connection with 
school work is usually found at the back of the School Code. 
These are usually numbered in accordance with the number 
forms on the regular sheet, and can be ordered from the 
County Superintendent when needed. Many of these forms 
are used only occasionally, and may not be found in the sup- 
ply envelope which the County Superintendent usually sends 
to the Clerk at the opening of the school year. Each Trus- 
tee should be supplied with a School Code and should be 
familiar with its requirements. In most States these are 
furnished without cost to School Trustees, and may be had 
through the County Superintendent's Office. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What plan of auditing is best adapted to your district which may 
serve to protect the school officers and the district's interests? 

2. What advantage is there in providing a working basis for the gen- 
eral government of all official acts? 

3. What weakness may be found in the constitutional provision giving 
the people the right to petition? 

4. What personal qualities and characteristics should one have to qual- 
ify him for the office of School Trustee? 

5. How can a school calendar be made to serve as a labor-saving de- 
vice for school officers? 



CHAPTER XII 
THE DAILY PROGRAM 

The daily program is as essential to a good school as a sched- 
ule of trains is to a railway system. Each must be carefully 
organized and run according to the schedule. Many adap- 
tations to circumstances are necessary, and changes must be 
made. The daily program is a means to an end. Its pur- 
pose is to systematize the work of each school day in such a 
way as to bring about the best results, and enable the teacher 
and pupils to do the most work with the least expenditure 
of energy in the time given. It is not a virtue to make a 
pupil work hard when the same result may be obtained by 
an easy method. This is an age in which expediency and 
speed are necessary. Pupils should do their work thoroughly, 
but as quickly as possible. The shortest solution of an 
arithmetic problem is the best way. 

It has been almost a custom for rural teachers to follow 
the daily program used by their predecessors the year be- 
fore. This is a questionable method to follow, for two rea- 
sons : First, the teacher finds that she can run the school by 
that program and never tries to make a better one. Second, 
the program may be wholly unsuited to the groups of chil- 
dren in the school. The personnel of the school may have 
changed entirely. The removal of a single family, especially 
if it be one in which there are a large number of children of 
school age, modifies the needs and conditions of the school. 
New subjects may be introduced, such as agriculture, do- 
mestic science, domestic art, and manual training. An 
evaluation and comparison of the different subjects in the 
course of study will result in giving less time to some than 



110 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

was formerly given, and more time to others whose impor- 
tance is newly recognized. It does not require so much time 
to teach arithmetic since it is no longer practical to teach 
partial payments, and, of several methods of computing 
interest, the shortest approved method is sufficient. 

A successful daily program can be made out only by the 
teacher who is working with the children at the time the 
program is to be used. She may get suggestions from her 
predecessors, or from books, but all this she must modify to 
fit her pupils' needs. If she is not capable of doing this, she 
is not to be entrusted with the shaping of the lives in her 
charge. There follows in this chapter a list of factors which 
should be considered in making out a daily program. They 
will vary in importance in different schools according to needs 
and conditions. 

The pupil's personal interest is the most important factor 
in any school, but it is often wholly neglected. There should 
be careful study of the individual pupil by the teacher. She 
should learn his personal needs by studying him as he is in 
other environments than the school; especially should she 
acquaint herself with his home life. What are his ambi- 
tions? What are the prospects of help from the parents to 
develop his aptitudes? What ideals are set up for him to 
follow? These are questions which every teacher should 
try to answer in order to give the greatest service to each 
pupil in her school. The writer once experienced the great- 
est difficulty with a pupil, who, though apparently normal 
in other respects, failed to articulate the easiest words. The 
home was visited and the mother found to have a hare-lip. 
Knowing this, the teacher not only had greater sympathy 
for the pupil, but made special arrangements to help him. 
Another pupil, considered dull because he had read in the 
same grade for two years, was doing wonderful things in a 
mechanical way outside of school. The work offered to him 



THE DAILY PROGRAM 111 

at school had failed to interest him. If some construction 
work had been provided which would have required the 
application of principles and content of other subjects, he 
would have become interested in those subjects. A motive 
for studying any subject may be found if we know the pu- 
pil's immediate interest. 

We may best classify a pupil after learning all we can 
about his heredity, environment, and natural interests. He 
should then work in the grade which will help him most 
according to his individual needs. It will be a class in which 
he finds work to interest him, work which he may do with a 
normal expenditure of energy and without repeating what 
he has failed to do before. If a child is a poor reader, it will 
not improve his reading to read again the books he has 
already read, or heard other classes read. He should have 
new, but not more advanced subject-matter. The simplest 
way to avoid repetition is to supply supplementary readers. 
Every rural school should have supplementary books, es- 
pecially in reading, geography, and history, and these should 
always be good, interesting books. 

Classification by grades is too often an arbitrary or diplo- 
matic move on the part of the departing teacher. Hoping 
to leave a good impression, she promotes all the pupils in the 
school. This is a most discouraging state of affairs for the 
new teacher to face. It is much better for her, after finding 
out by fair tests that a boy cannot do the work of the grade 
to which he has been passed, to talk the matter over with 
his parents. She should not say very much about grades, 
but give the boy work he can do and be interested in. The 
real proof of the pupil's work is his ability to do it. 

In schools which are maintained for approximately nine 
months, the length of the year will not enter to any extent 
as a factor into the problem of the daily program. In schools 
of seven months or less, some subjects will have to be omitted 



112 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

altogether or the length of the recitation reduced to an ab- 
surd minimum. School ordinarily opens at nine o'clock and 
closes at four, with fifteen minutes out in the morning and 
afternoon, and one hour for the noon intermission. This 
leaves five and one haK hours for school work. Pupils in 
the first three grades should spend not more than three and 
one half hours in actual work. A large portion of this time 
should be given to hand-work and such other school activi- 
ties as do not necessitate the pupil's sitting in his seat — for 
example, the dramatization of stories. This is of special 
importance in rural schools when the younger children may 
not recite often, nor more than for a few minutes. And, be- 
cause proper seats are not provided for them, it should be 
allowed them to go home earlier than four o'clock, and to 
have longer recess periods than fifteen minutes. When, be- 
cause of distance, bad roads, or other reasons, the younger 
children have to wait for the dismissal of elder brothers and 
sisters they should play out of doors, or use building-blocks 
on the floor in a corner where they will not disturb the other 
pupils, or lay out farms on the sand table, or illustrate the 
reading lesson by drawing pictures on the blackboard. This 
time should be spent in free, spontaneous play, in which the 
children may give expression to their own ideas. 

The number of pupils in every district will vary with the 
work at certain seasons, with illness, and with the removal 
of famihes. The daily program should be immediately ad- 
justed accordingly. 

No teacher should plan so many classes a day that it 
would be impossible to have them recite. The program as 
decided upon should be carried out. The recess period 
should occur at the proper time, no classes should be omitted, 
and school should close promptly. 

The hardest work may be done during the morning, and 
the most difficult subjects should be placed on the morning 



THE DAILY PROGRAM 113 

program. It is not possible to do this for each grade, but it 
may be accompHshed for the school as a whole by having 
the younger pupils, who can make little preparation for their 
lessons, recite immediately after the session opens. The 
older pupils, who are physically able to spend more time in 
the preparation of their lessons, should recite the latter part 
of the first and the third sessions of the day. Those subjects 
which require less application and more drill should come 
at the close of the second and the fourth sessions. Older 
pupils learn to arrange, in part, their own study hours. A 
word of caution is necessary, because pupils who have a 
long time in which to prepare their lessons often get into 
sluggish and slovenly habits of study. Teachers are unwit- 
tingly the cause of this when they assign lessons without 
proper motivation and direction. 

The relative importance of the subjects of the course of 
study should be considered, and time allotted to teaching 
these subjects should be according to their importance. For 
example, more time should be spent in teaching reading than 
spelling, and the upper grades should spend a larger percent- 
age of their time on arithmetic than the primary grades. 

It is difficult to state the exact nmnber of recitations 
which a teacher should have on her program. She may lit- 
erally hear thirty classes, but she cannot possibly conduct 
that many recitations. When a program has twenty reci- 
tations the average length of each is sixteen minutes. If the 
number is increased to twenty-five, the average length of 
each is reduced to thirteen minutes. Some subjects, such 
as history and geography in the upper grades, take a much 
longer period than either thirteen or sixteen minutes if they 
are to be taught at all as they should be. Some classes 
in spelling can recite in five minutes. The need of longer 
periods than the average is much greater than the need of 
more classes which may recite in shorter periods. One of the 



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greatest problems the rural teacher has, then, is to reduce 
the number of classes so as to have all the pupils recite in all 
the subjects they are required to take, and at the same time 
have the recitation period of sufficient length to teach the 
subject well. 

A copy of a daily program which, was worked out in a 
Michigan one-room rural school accompanies this chapter. 
There were twenty-six pupils in eight grades. There were 
twenty -five recitations, which varied in length from ten to 
twenty minutes. In schools of fewer pupils the number 
should be less. This may be accomplished in several ways: 

First, classes may be combined. In the school for which 
this program was made, there were two pupils in the sixth 
grade, one further advanced and capable of doing harder 
work than the other. The added incentive of reading with 
the seventh and the eighth grade, together with his own 
ability in reading, enabled him to read with those grades 
with profit. The other pupil gladly read with the fifth 
grade, who were having new and interesting material within 
their power to read. Doing away with the sixth grade read- 
ing class lengthened the time of each of the other classes. 
Similar combination of classes, except arithmetic, may be 
made in most other cases. It is seldom profitable for a pupil 
to remain in a class by himself. The enthusiasm of numbers 
is often overlooked in rural schools. Whenever it is possible 
to teach cooperation by practice it should be done. SpelHng 
classes may be always combined. The spelHng and phonic 
work may be combined in the first three grades. 

Second, the number of recitations may be reduced by al- 
ternating subjects or different grades in the same subject. 
Classes in grammar and physiology in the same grade may 
recite on alternate days; or Monday, Wednesday, and Fri- 
day may be given to grammar, and Tuesday and Thursday 
to physiology. Fifth and sixth grade geography may recite 



. THE DAILY PROGRAM 117 

on alternate days with seventh and eighth in the same sub- 
ject. Instead of having both classes recite every day for a 
fifteen minute period, each recites for thirty minutes every 
other day. 

Lessons in agriculture should occasionally be substituted 
for reading and grammar, for they furnish a splendid subject 
for oral discussion. Friday afternoon, from the last recess 
period to the closing of school, may be given to instruction 
of domestic art, domestic science, and manual training; ad- 
ditional help may be given as needed at the noon intermis- 
sion. Domestic science may be taught in connection with 
serving the hot noon lunch, the instruction being given at 
the time suggested above. Instruction in hand work for the 
primary grade should be given at the arithmetic period. 
Music and drawing and nature study should be taught 
at the time of the morning exercises. Story-telling, read- 
ing aloud, current events, discussion of problems of interest 
to all the school should also form a part of the morning 
exercise. 

The teacher should direct and prepare for such seat work 
as may be educational. This is also a very important 
part of the daily program, as every successful rural teacher 
knows. 

As stated at the beginning of this chapter, the daily pro- 
gram is a very essential feature in the rural schools. It is 
not easy to work out a program. The discussion given here 
may not be all used by any one teacher, but it is hoped it 
will prove suggestive. 

SUGGESTR^ QUESTIONS 

1. Wliat advantage is it to pupils in school if the teacher arranges a very 
definite program of classes for each day's session, and then posts this 
in a conspicuous place where all may consult it? 

2. Is it an advantage or a disadvantage to a child to place him in a class 
which is in advance of his abilit}'? Can you suggest any plan for 



118 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

classifying pupils in school so scientifically that each will be given the 
greatest opportunity for study and advancement? 

3. Would it be fair to criticize a school without first having investigated 
its work personally, thus having first-hand knowledge of the plans 
and methods followed? 

4. Do trustees and patrons ever or often ask the teacher to explain the 
new ways of doing things in school, either personally or in an open 
forum meeting? 

5. In judging school organization and classroom instruction, enumerate 
all of the points which ought to be considered in a well-directed plan. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE HOME AND THE SCHOOL IN COOPERATION 

The home and the school must work in closest cooperation 
in order that the largest and best development be secured 
during the preparatory years of the child's life. Home mak- 
ing is fundamental in the prime necessities which govern 
our progress. The principle which rules the home must 
eventually be the governing influence which rules our Na- 
tion. The school is the most important supplement to the 
home because it assumes the responsibility of the child's 
well-being for a considerable portion of the time during the 
formative period of his life. It must share with the home all 
the responsibilities of good home making, and must assume 
complete parental control and guidance of all the child's ac- 
tivities during the time school is in session. These two in- 
stitutions, therefore, which are largely responsible for the 
shaping of the child's life and for making him ready for the 
duties of citizenship, should work together in closest unison. 

In order that the transition be not too great between the 
parental home and the school home it is necessary to provide 
as many as possible of the comforts of the one for the other. 
The environment of each one too should be similar, in that 
pleasure as well as comfort should be fundamental in the 
general plan. It is the desire of all parents that their chil- 
dren remember their home with delight, and it is equally de- 
sirable that the school be so organized that it will make last- 
ing impressions for good upon the minds of all of its pupils. 
The home is made beautiful by its plan, its arrangement, its 
furnishings, — all of which must be reflected in the family 
ties which are most sacred as a home influence. The school 



120 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

home, then, which moulds and shapes the child's life to the 
same degree must be arranged and furnished properly, and 
the governing principle must be characterized by a spirit 
akin to parental control. But we must go further in our 
plan of cooperation by inaugurating a closer personal asso- 
ciation. The teacher must know the parents of the children 
whom she teaches. She must know each home and have 
an understanding of its personal characteristics. She must 
see the children in their home surroundings in order to de- 
termine how to supplement the home training to the best 
advantage in the case of each child under her charge. On 
the other hand, all parents should know the teacher per- 
sonally in order to place more confidence in her as a director 
of their children. The children must be governed by this 
dual authority existing in the home and in the school, and a 
thorough understanding is necessary in order to avoid the 
misunderstandings which so frequently arise. In order to. 
know the teacher well, the parent must see her in the school- 
room performing the daily duties of the work under her su- 
pervision. This will require frequent visits, and can best be 
carried out by making a schedule plan so that one or more 
mothers visit the school every week in the year. It should 
be understood, of course, that the teachers' visits to the 
homes, and the parents' visits to the school, should be for 
the sole purpose of closer cooperation, and should never be 
done for the purpose of criticizing. Good fellowship always 
comes through common interests and honest intent. So the 
home and the school should both profit by this wholesome 
acquaintanceship and mutual desire to assist each other. 
■ Among the qualifications required of the teacher, none is 
more necessary nor more in demand than social leadership. 
This characteristic has various names — some call it initia- 
tive; some, enthusiasm; some, community or civic interest; 
some, power to mix; some, good fellowship, or the power to 



HOME AND SCHOOL IN COOPERATION 121 

touch humanity. And we say of such a teacher, she had the 
abihty to harmonize discordant elements of a community, 
or she senses the pulse of her district, or she is just popular 
and attractive, a jolly companion, and everybody likes her. 
More and more we are recognizing the fact that education 
is not altogether a matter of book learning, but it is primarily 
the ability to Hve with people, and that knowledge is not 
an end, but a contributing force. Thus it is required of 
a teacher to teach this art — the ability to live with one's 
fellows. 

One hardly knows how such a view of education evolved 
from so opposite a viewpoint. It has developed very slowly 
and is a recent idea. The scholastic age made knowledge 
equivalent to conduct, and this view led to retirement from 
the world, as monks or hermits did, in order to secure a 
happy future Ufe for one's self. But gradually the centuries 
have evolved a new educational theory, that man's soul is 
saved only by losing all idea of self through participation 
in the affairs of the world. This idea has taken root, as it 
were, in the composite public mind as an evolution, till in 
some way it has become embodied in all our institutions, in 
our very laws, and in our ways of thinking. Our churches, 
our hospitals and asylums, our Chambers of Commerce, our 
charitable organizations, labor organizations, clubs, and at 
last our schools are organized with the idea of complete 
brotherhood and fuller participation in community affairs. 

Such has been the growth of the Parent-Teacher Move- 
ment. As an organization it started away back in 1897, 
when Mrs. Theodore W. Birney and Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst 
called a meeting of mothers to discuss Child- Welfare. Out 
of this first meeting was organized the Mothers' Congress. 
So rapidly did the movement grow that the members drew 
up a permanent constitution, calling themselves the Na- 
tional Congress of Mothers. There have been eighteen 



122 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

annual conferences since that time, held every other year at 
Washington, D.C. 

Starting at first as a Mothers* Movement, it soon broad- 
ened its scope so that fathers as well as mothers might have 
the opportunity of cooperating with all others interested 
in Child- Welfare. The Association recognized fathers and 
mothers as sharing equally the burdens and the responsi- 
bilities of child-rearing. Thirty-seven States have branch 
associations of the Mothers' Congress with their corps of 
able managers. Thousands of progressive cities, villages, 
and rural schools have branch organizations affiliated with 
the state associations, and thus indirectly with the National 
Congress of Mothers. 

The keynote of the entire work is cooperation. The 
objects of the Congress are many in detail, but the one gen- 
eral purpose is embodied in the phrase Child-Welfare. De- 
tailed aims and purposes are as follows : 

To raise the standards of home life; to develop wiser, better 
trained parenthood. 

To give young people, ignorant of the proper care and training of 
children, opportunities to learn this, that they may better perform 
the duties of parenthood. 

To bring into closer relations the home and school, that parent and 
teacher may cooperate intelligently in the education of the child. 

To surround the childhood of the whole world with that loving 
wise care in the impressionable years of life, which will develop 
good citizens, instead of law-breakers and criminals. 

To carry the mother-love and mother-thought into all that con- 
cerns or touches childhood in Home, School, Church, or State. 

To interest men and women to cooperate in the work for purer, 
truer homes, in the belief that to accomplish the best results, men 
and women must work together. 

To secure such legislation as will insure that children of tender 
years may not be tried in ordinary courts, but that each town shall 
establish juvenile courts and special officers, whose business it shall 
be to look out for that care which will rescue the child from evil 
ways instead of confirming him in them. 



HOME AND SCHOOL IN COOPERATION 123 

To rouse the whole community to a sense of its duty and respon- 
sibility to the blameless, dependent, and neglected children, be- 
cause there is no philanthropy which will so speedily reduce our 
taxes, reduce our prison expenses, reduce the expense of institu- 
tions for correction and reform. 

The work of the Congress is civic work in its broadest and highest 
sense, and every man or woman who is interested in the aims of 
the Congress is cordially invited to become a member and aid in 
the organized effort for a higher, nobler national life which can be 
attained only through the individual homes. 

A magazine is published by the National Congress which 
outlines the state and national child-welfare views, suggests 
ways of organizing local associations, plans programs, and 
in many helpful ways deals with the problems of parenthood 
and the school. 

Not only is the United States thus organized, but many 
foreign countries are vitally interested. The last Interna- 
tional Congress of Mothers had representatives from Great 
Britain, China, Japan, Persia, Cuba, Bulgaria, and other 
nations. Great Britain is very progressive in this line. We 
find, too, that every progressive community throughout our 
land has some society or club definitely devoted to commu- 
nity needs, and whatever its name may be, whether social 
settlement, civic center, or community meeting, all are 
striving for the same ends. The great value in affiliation 
with a National Organization is in an extended breadth of 
view and the united effort of thousands of people for a com- 
mon good to childhood. That community which is content 
to have its school and home life distinct, with no coopera- 
tion between parents and teachers, cannot take high rank 
in its efforts for social progress. 

The Parent-Teacher Association is primarily the depart- 
ment in which teachers may work to best advantage. This 
organization may be brought about by a wide-awake teacher 
or by the citizens of a community. It comes into being only 



124 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

when the needs of a locality demand it. Conditions are not 
right. There are factions in the district, perhaps, or a lack 
of harmony between teacher, parents, and pupils; or there is 
a need of improvement in buildings, or school grounds, or 
home conditions and ideals; in sanitation, ventilation, heat- 
ing plant; the teacher's housing; or, as too frequently occurs, 
in the moral conditions of the young people. No teacher or 
parent alone can right these conditions. It is only through 
cooperation of the teacher and the parents — all of them 
if it can be brought about — that wrong conditions may be 
righted. Often a strong teacher sees the need first. Some- 
times her Board is eager to make all the necessary improve- 
ments; sometimes, however, economy plays too large a part 
in hampering the welfare of the children or the best efforts 
of the teacher. Perhaps the teacher is right; perhaps the 
Board and community are right; but, at any rate, no prog- 
ress ever came from division of sentiment. To talk the 
matter over, gi^'ing arguments for and against, in a sensible, 
reasonable way, is the only way to bring about harmony 
of purpose. A monthly meeting in the schoolhouse — the 
common possession of all the people — brings all together 
for the best interests of the children. Here there is no 
rich nor poor, no snob, no intellectual class, no illiterate; 
for every father and mother is experimenting on human 
life, as is the teacher; and sometimes, nay, often, it is the 
son of the so-called common people, who has had the best 
training for life, that becomes the future leader of a new 
generation. There is no leveler so great as that of educa- 
tion, and the richest and wisest father sometimes stands 
abashed before his poor and illiterate neighbor whose son has 
become a blessing. Where there is no local paper — as in 
rural districts — public opinion is difficult to secure without 
some medium of exchange. These monthly meetings con- 
stitute a public forum, and may become the educator of all 



HOME AND SCHOOL IN COOPERATION 125 

the people in the same way that the Grange Meetings have 
educated the farmer. 

The National Congress recommends a simple method of 
organizing such an association of parents and teachers. The 
simpler the organization the better, for it does not meet to 
study parliamentary law, but the child; and it will make less 
difference to him whether a motion is out of order than the 
fact that his seat is so adjusted that his body will have a fair 
chance to develop. So, too, the conditions on the playground, 
medical inspection, how to prevent sore throats and colds, 
suitable and nourishing foods for school lunches, high stand- 
ards of morals among the children, and the moral standards 
of the community are all topics of great significance wdiich 
a Parent-Teacher Meeting may profitably discuss. 

Additional topics, suggestive of what a Parent-Teacher 
Meeting may profitably discuss, are : 

1. School curriculum 

2. School and home discipline 

3. Home credits 

4. School libraries and home reading 

5. Equipment for the school, such as paper towels, common 
drinking cup, warm lunch apparatus, pictures, heating plant, 
school desks, lighting facilities, etc. 

6. Medical, dental, and eye inspection 

7. Study of sex hygiene 

8. Supervision of playgrounds and play apparatus 

9. Planting of shrubbery, trees, etc., on school grounds 

10. School gardens or farms 

11. Manual training and domestic science 

12. School contests 

13. School dress 

14. Amusements for young people and their supervision 

15. School and home clubs 

IG. Causes of colds, sore throats, weak eyes, etc. 

17. Earning capacity of the child 

18. The value of play 

19. Good music 



126 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

Another phase of school and home cooperation can be 
carried out by making the schoolhouse a center for the 
social and intellectual activities of the community about it. 
As the one rural institution which is supported by all and 
equally open to all, and representing no church, lodge, polit- 
ical party, organization, or social group, it stands for the 
common welfare of all, and about it as a center all should 
unite. Its labors are directed only toward the education 
and improvement of the children of all of the people, and 
this is a great unifying idea. To this end the school trustees 
and teacher should encourage the use of the school building 
as a meeting place for all forms of community organizations, 
and make of the schoolhouse a center for the advancement 
of the community welfare. Public meetings, evening lec- 
tures, meetings of the Grange, spelling matches, entertain- 
ments, exhibits, plays, musical performances, — these are 
some of the forms of community activity which the trustees 
of the school should permit to be held in the building, so 
that it may become what it ought to be, — the great center 
for the social and intellectual life of the community whose 
children attend it. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What are five of the best reasons you can give for the home and the 
school working in the closest cooperation? 

2. What suggestions have you for making the transition less marked, for 
the child six years of age, when he goes from his home to the school 
for the first time? 

3. What advantage is there in personal visitation exchanged between the 
home and the school? 

4. What additional points can you add to the detailed aims and purposes 
set forth in the Child- Welfare movement, having to do with the creat- 
ing of better opportunities for children? 

5. What plan do you suggest for Americanizing the foreign immigrant 
who comes to our country seeking permanent citizenship? 



CHAPTER XIV 
RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 

During recent years mucli study has been given to country- 
life problems, and in connection with this the rural school 
has received much comment. Public attention thus focused 
upon a particular unit of our school system has brought to 
light many important issues which will serve to improve con- 
ditions now out of harmony. These rural centers which at 
one time formed the basis of the public-school system seem 
to have been somewhat neglected during recent years, while 
the village and city systems have been evolving out of the 
midst of new conditions and new influences. Indeed many 
have come to think of education as centered in our urban 
communities, and feel that only in such communities can the 
best school work be provided. As cities have grown and 
prospered they have provided for elaborate systems of edu- 
cation, for good buildings, for splendid equipment, and above 
all they have provided for an adequate system of supervision. 
By consulting former chapters it may be seen that the ad- 
ministration of our entire school system is in good hands; 
that the administration officers are faithful and considerate 
in their part of the work. It must be admitted, however, 
that the supervision of the rural schools has been neglected 
to a large degree. This has not been done intentionally, but 
rather because of conditions which seemed to work against 
its proper promotion. It is easy to supervise a city unit be- 
cause of its compactness, but to secure adequate supervision 
for the country schools, which are more or less isolated, has 
proved to be a more difficult problem. 

Some in discussing the problem of supervision have even 



128 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

advocated the idea that the rural schools need no supervi- 
sion. Their statements were to the effect that the teacher 
employed ought to be able to handle her work properly with- 
out assistance and without suggestion. Further statements 
have been made that it is simply a waste of money to under- 
take to organize country places by organizing educational 
units of the proper size. 

Arguments of such nature, however, seem not to be well 
founded when we consider the fact that in the cities about 
one tenth of the school revenue is paid for supervision pur- 
poses. We must admit at once that the city system has 
prospered under its well-organized plan. All agree that su- 
per\dsion is one of its most important elements, and the law 
will not permit a city system to be organized without making 
proper provision for this most important part of its direction. 
Even though teachers be employed who possess special train- 
ing and who have proved their adaptability through years of 
experience, special supervisors are provided to insure that 
the best instruction be given and that the children be di- 
rected in using their time to the best possible advantage. 

As great progress has been made under a carefully super- 
vised system in the city, it would be quite logical to suppose 
that our rural systems could be improved by the same watch- 
ful direction. If money is provided through public revenue 
for the better direction of city schools, there ought to be a 
means whereby the financial help can be given to the rural 
communities. Surely the child life on the farm is no less im- 
portant in its development than that of the city cousin. 
Surely the citizenship of our country includes all the chil- 
dren, wherever they may live, and our educational heritage 
must extend even into the most remote places. And to 
make possible a great citizenship we must offer to all child 
life the very best opportunities for mental, physical, and 
moral growth in our public schools. 



RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 129 

It has been found through experience that the school dis- 
trict is too small a unit to provide good supervision, and also 
that this can be administered best in units not too large in 
size. Supervision of instruction by the School Board is no 
longer possible, as its members cannot be expected to pos- 
sess the pedagogical knowledge necessary. Any well-trained 
teacher must necessarily know more about the details of 
instruction than any School Trustee can be expected to know. 
What is needed is a traveling supervisor who can give per- 
sonal attention to classroom organization and the work of 
instruction, and by personal visitation inspect the class- 
room work of a number of teachers. The teacher must have 
the cooperation and encouragement of the supervisor, for 
many difficult problems can be solved better through the 
counsel of both acting together. The children, too, will feel 
a greater interest in their work if they know it is being in- 
spected regularly by a competent supervisor representing 
some larger authority than the district, and that through 
this means a standardizing influence is being applied as a 
measure to all work being accomplished. Even the patrons 
will be able to create a greater unity in the schoolroom work, 
and will feel the strength of a well-organized plan working in 
and through all of the functions connected with the school. 
As this directing influence has been found very essential to 
the promotion of all industrial organizations, it will just as 
surely prove valuable in securing the very best things in our 
educational work. It will require some added expense, to be 
sure, but the small outlay required will be very little com- 
pared with the added efficiency which it will give. Per- 
sonally I believe that the rural school as now organized can 
be doubled in its effectiveness in serving the community and 
in its academic efficiency through this means of better su- 
pervision, and I believe that the one great need in our 
educational advancement is to give this part of our edu- 



130 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

cational system the necessary assistance in this particular 
hne. 

The County Superintendent of Schools, or the County 
School Commissioner, who has had charge of this work in the 
different States, has been very earnest in considering the gen- 
eral welfare of our rural schools, but it is entirely impossible 
for this officer, who has numerous clerical and administra- 
tive duties, also to supervise a large number of widely scat- 
tered schools. In most instances the counties are so large 
that it is impossible for the county officer, with his other 
duties to attend to, to make more than one trip during the 
year to each school under his direction. Under such circum- 
stances the visitation can only be a very meager inspection 
of the school, which can in no way be considered supervision 
for this all-important work. What is needed is frequent 
professional supervision of a new kind. 

Things which seem to be most worth while in education 
have behind them a great living personality, and no institu- 
tion is able to prosper without human sympathy and united 
personal interest. It may be said, however, that personal 
interest is limited, and can come in contact, in the strongest 
way, only with conditions near at hand. Impressions that 
we receive each day concerning things nearest and dearest 
to us become of greatest personal interest. Lessons in the 
schoolroom are made personal through the teacher's devo- 
tion to her work, and can be made doubly interesting by 
reinforcing this personal interest through the supervisor who 
watches the development from all of the different angles 
connected with the pupil's welfare. 

A community, though it may be intensely interested in 
national affairs, should be interested most in its own local 
problems and local welfare. It ought to know its own needs 
better than those who view it from a distance. It surely 
has problems to be solved that can not be seen by those who 



RUR.VL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 131 

are looking on from afar. It must then develop a local pride 
and a local interest in its school affairs in order to make 
possible the best things for its children. 

In order to provide adequate supervision, one of two plans 
should be followed. One plan is to provide special supervi- 
sors, as of primary work, music, agriculture, etc., and have 
these visit and direct their work in all the schools of the 
county. The other is to divide each county into two or more 
supervisory units, each representing from twelve to twenty- 
five districts, according to conditions and circumstances. 
The divisions should be made in such a manner as to offer the 
very best road facilities and topographical conditions for 
getting over the territory most easily. Under the latter 
plan, the supervisor acts much as a principal of an elemen- 
tary school in a city. He should be required to live in the 
supervised territory, and should become a real part of the 
community life represented. He should be provided with 
the very best means of transportation in order to make pos- 
sible quick and effective service. He should be provided 
with telephone service, with lines extending to each one of 
the separate units or school districts. He should meet the 
people of each neighborhood personally and find out their 
needs, and should arrange to give every assistance in carry- 
ing into effect their plans for improvement. He should be a 
ready counselor under all circumstances, should be broad in 
his ideals, careful in his decisions, yet firm in doing his duty. 

With our better roads and with our better transportation 
facilities a live supervisor can adequately supervise from 
fifteen to thirty schools, and be able to give the needed as- 
sistance to the teachers and the communities in raising the 
standards of their work. Local organizations ought to be 
formed, and a general community interest aroused in all the 
work to be undertaken. Special entertainments should be 
provided for the different sections of the supervisory unit. 



132 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

and a greater interest aroused for social improvement. Each 
school district should be stimulated by the supervisor to 
greater activity, and be given a better understanding of its 
local possibilities. 

I hope I may be pardoned for saying again that just this 
stimulated interest has built up a wonderful school system 
in the city, and it will likewise materially increase the effi- 
ciency of our rural communities. I am inclined to predict 
that, with the renewed interest in farming and with the 
progressive farmer of to-day, the interurban localities are 
no longer to be deprived of the best things in education. 
When a better understanding of the problem is reached and 
a knowledge of the needs is known, rural supervision will 
be immediately inaugurated throughout the country. 

The Grange, as well as other farmers' organizations, are 
investigating the merits and the needs of a supervisory plan, 
and should it receive their indorsement and their support it 
will then surely take shape through legislative enactment. 
It is a question in education worthy of most serious consider- 
ation, because it will materially advance our educational 
growth when the entire system measures up to its highest 
point of efficiency. We can claim only partial success for 
our work until this neglected portion is given just consid- 
eration in the way of adequate supervision. 

Great improvement has been made in our school buildings, 
even in the most remote places. Heat, light, ventilation, 
and sanitation have been carefully considered in connection 
with each new building erected. Our rural schools are bet- 
ter supplied with furniture than ever before. More atten- 
tion has been given to the beautifying of school buildings 
and school grounds, all of which have resulted in a great 
change for the better. The next important step forward is 
to improve the instruction provided by inaugurating an 
adequate system of rural school supervision. 



RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 133 

If we plan anew the direction of all of our rural schools, 
and place specially trained supervisors over units of proper 
size, a great stimulus will be given to do better work. The 
little brown schooihouse by the roadside will serve a greater 
purpose in education than it has done before, and boys and 
girls who grow up on the farm will come into possession of 
their own just portion of the educational heritage which has 
been so wisely planned and so carefully fostered through the 
years. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What business enterprises do you know that are conducted on a large 
scale but which are not provided with adequate supervision? 

2. How are large business concerns stimulated to greater activity, and 
encouraged to undertake problems of a difficult character? 

3. Can a farmer succeed in cultivating a very large tract of land, where a 
large capital investment is necessary, and at the same time allow each 
of his hired men to work according to his own choosing and without 
supervision or direction? 

4. If close supervision is desired in the country schools, about what is 
the maximum size of the unit of territory, in your county, that can be 
directed to advantage by one supervisor? 

5. Point out the advantages of providing for county-unit supervision, 
where each rural school would be under traveling supervisors of pri- 
mary work, agriculture, music, etc. 

6. What plan can you suggest for the improvement of rural school 
organization as it now exists? 

7. If we are dissatisfied with conditions as they exist, is it better to 
find fault and criticize, or is it better to study carefully and point 
out in a constructive manner the way to betterment? 



CHAPTER XV 

CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 

Individual teaching had its beginning at the mother's knee. 
This home instruction was afterward supplemented by the 
church pastor. Private tutors were sometimes employed, 
but teaching of this character was limited to the children of 
those having sufficient means. The next step was a sub- 
scription school. This was a little more advanced in char- 
acter, and provided a way for a considerable number of 
children to have some schooling at a small expense. The 
general plan followed, however, was without organization, 
and consequently was lacking in the very principle necessary 
for real success. But from these small beginnings it was 
easy to foresee the necessity for a universal plan, so that all 
children might receive the benefit of at least an elementary 
schooling. 

The public school, therefore, is the outgrowth of universal 
needs which was conceived by our forefathers in connection 
with "government by the people.'* At first the groups of 
children who attended school were small because the plan 
included only children within a restricted age limit, — 
ranging from eight to tw^elve years old. It was thought that 
children younger than eight should be at home under their 
mother's direction, and that children over twelve ought to 
be at home helping with the work which was necessary for 
the family to do in order to earn a living. There was no call 
for an elaborate plant nor for expensive furniture, for a sim- 
ple arrangement served the need to the very best advantage 
at that time. A small building was erected in each neighbor- 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 135 

hood, within walking distance of all the homes composing 
the single district. School was kept for only a short period 
of time during the year, and at a time when the children were 
freest from necessary responsibilities at home. 

The worth of this elementary training was so universally 
appreciated that from it has grown our elaborate well-organ- 
ized school system. The founders of public-school education 
probably never realized that they were laying the foundation 
for one of the greatest plans for promoting national intelli- 
gence and stimulating national progress that has ever been 
realized by the civilized world. Truly, they were "building 
better than they knew." 

Our schoolroom education to-day includes many things 
that were not thought of at first. Even elementary educa- 
tion is several fold more important than it was conceived to 
be in the first plan. One year after another was added to 
the requirement, and step by step this steady advancement 
went forward, making provisions for the academy, the high 
school, the college, the university. And the wonder of it all 
is that all these institutions are included in our free public- 
school system. Standards of teaching as well as standards 
of equipment have constantly advanced, and we find to-day 
the people of the whole country contributing willingly to 
the necessary revenue required to carry forw^ard the plan. 
While conservative expenditures were urged at first, now we 
spend thousands unhesitatingly, knowing full well that our 
money properly spent in this way will assist in making a 
great nation of united peoples. Many parents, too, believe 
that putting their money into the very blood and tissue of 
their own children will in the end prove to be a greater treas- 
ure than money stored up or invested in the ordinary things 
of life. At any rate the public-school system has come to be 
universally accepted as an institution worthy of the best 
consideration, and the support given it proves its value more 



136 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

conclusively than any number of words or phrases about it 
could possibly do. 

The prime question now is, how shall we make this public 
institution serve to the best advantage. When we speak of 
this service we mean to include the needs of "all the children 
of all the people." As the early plan has grown and devel- 
oped into something better and something greater than was 
at first anticipated, so also must we continue to change our 
plans as the years pass by, and as newer and better things 
arise to take the place of those which are obsolete. We 
should never change a course for the sake of having some- 
thing different, but each change should be so thoroughly 
considered that when it is established it will prove to be a 
real improvement. Any neighborhood studying a question 
with an honest purpose in mind will reap great benefits from 
its deliberations, even though the proposition is finally re- 
jected. Any neighborhood that is closed to the study of 
new things must needs be unprogressive and is likely to fall 
into habits of retrogression. How necessary, therefore, is it 
that we approach new propositions with open minds and 
with a sincere determination to make an honest analysis 
before rendering a decision. Such a principle has actuated 
every line of work, every improvement, every forward step, 
every better plan that the world has ever made. 

Since the public schools in some States have accomplished 
more than in others, since greater results have been shown in 
some communities than in others, it is of prime importance 
that we study these conditions thoroughly and determine 
what there is lacking in the one that is possessed by the 
other. We find at once in such a study that there are some 
specific principles underlying all growth in our schools, but 
that the means in one is often quite different from that used 
in the others. One of the first and most important facts 
that we come in contact with in our study is that the well- 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 137 

organized and well-supervised system of schools has accom- 
plished more in the same length of time than one less care- 
fully directed. In the larger centers, therefore, we find 
better opportunities for this wholesome organization. The 
one-room school of the country, which formed the very corner 
stone of our early plan, is now universally conceded to be the 
very hardest school to manage, to supervise, and to improve. 
This is not because it cannot be made better, but rather be- 
cause it lacks that type of supervision that gives close atten- 
tion to a study of its needs. The people of the country are 
not unprogressive, but the fact that they are scattered about 
makes it more difficult for them to get together for individual 
study of propositions which affect their own welfare. They 
have often closed their eyes to progressive measures simply 
because it seemed the easiest way to settle the matter. Time 
is always a necessary element in accomplishing anything 
worth while, and this is often given by country folk in such 
full measure to other things that there is none left for prop- 
ositions which seem to them unnecessary. Because of this 
attitude there are many communities that have not im- 
proved their opportunities to make of the public school 
the largest possible factor in education. They have paid 
dearly for all that they have received, and in some instances 
have been willing to accept educational services for their 
children which are entirely below standard. In striking 
contrast to this the ever-growing tendency is clearly appar- 
ent in communities where the school moves ever forward in 
unison with the progressive improvements noted every- 
where on the farm. 

There is no single principle which can be set forth as a 
means of curing all of our educational difficulties. Neither 
is there any single plan of improvement that will be found 
equally adaptable to all neighborhoods. So in presenting 
consolidation as a means of rural school betterment, it is not 



138 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

urged as a proposition to be universally accepted. It has 
many advantages, however, and will be found adaptable to 
many communities that are now handicapped by the limits 
of the small school. I say "limits of the small school," be- 
cause the single teacher is limited in her schoolroom to the 
amount which one individual can do and to the small num- 
ber of different educational problems which one individual 
can solve. No teacher can do everything equally well; so 
it is evident that an association of teachers in a single school 
building can offer a greater specialization of instruction and 
variety of work, and under better conditions, than any one 
teacher would be able to offer. Under good organization 
each teacher is placed where she can accomplish the greatest 
amount of good in the allotted time, and each pupil is placed 
where his adaptation will insure the greatest accomplish- 
ment for the effort expended. Cooperation then in both 
work and effort can be realized in larger measure in a system 
of schools than in a single room where many grades of work 
are represented. 

In the one-room school all recitations must necessarily be 
short. This was well shown in the daily school program 
given in Chapter XII. There are so many classes and so 
many types of work during a single day that it is very dijE- 
cult to do all things well and slight nothing, even though the 
teacher in charge be earnest, faithful, and painstaking. Be- 
cause of this serious handicap, it is wise to change such con- 
ditions whenever it can be done. There are many places 
where the whole difficulty lies in the minds of the people 
rather than in the impracticability of the plan. An honest 
study of the working plan, and the results obtained in the 
many consolidated schools now organized in our most pro- 
gressive States, will reveal many interesting facts, and hence 
this is urged as worthy of first consideration by all small 
districts. Compiled data and printed matter may be had 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 139 

from State and County School Superintendents. Abun- 
dance of material is available, and much of it of a very 
convincing type. 

Whenever the plan of consolidating a number of small 
schools to form a larger union school is brought up for con- 
sideration, there should be a very careful survey made of 
the physical conditions of the territory. Climatic condi- 
tions must be thought of, because this is an inevitable situa- 
tion which cannot well be changed. The condition of roads 
and means of transportation during the school year is an 
important item, because pupils can walk to school only 
within limited distances, and if -the territory is to be ex- 
tended beyond this limit a means must be provided for 
transporting the pupils. The time arrangement which at 
once enters into the scheme must not be overlooked. Chil- 
dren who must come the farthest cannot be expected to 
leave home too early in the morning, nor to arrive at home 
too late in the afternoon. The kind of vehicle to be used 
and the reliability of the driver must also come in for con- 
sideration, because these things are vital in making the plan 
a worthy one. The cost of inaintaining a school under con- 
solidation is not likely to be less expensive, though there is 
every evidence that greater returns may be had for money 
expended in this way than is possible under the old ungraded 
system. Better things are not usually purchased with less 
money. All of these difficulties, though, are easily handled 
if guided by expert advice. 

Though almost every State in the Union has worked out 
some plan by which its rural schools may be consolidated, 
and though it is considered a distinct forward movement for 
the betterment of rural and village education, it has been but 
very slightly appreciated by the people whom it most affects. 
This can be accounted for only by the fact that the plan 
has not been carefully studied by rural and village people, 



140 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

and that in many instances it probably has been viewed 
with prejudice. We must look deeper than tradition in jus- 
tifying that which is old; we must be willing to be convinced 
when the preponderance of evidence is against us, no matter 
what our personal likes or dislikes may be. If conditions are 
not right when a careful study is made of the neighborhood 
conditions, it is best to bide the time until this can be 
changed. But no progressive school district can ever afford 
to make a decision without evidence, nor can it refuse to 
listen to evidence offered in connection with the better 
development of the neighborhood. 

Since our principles of government are democratic in char- 
acter, it is well to apply these same principles when deciding 
local affairs. The people may well be called upon to decide 
an important plan of this kind by the use of the franchise, 
but their decision can be correct only after they have studied 
the question fairly together. Any decision is worthless, of 
course, if not based upon facts and upon independent under- 
standing. So it would be unfortunate for any district to 
make a decision, either individually or collectively, without 
first having a clear-cut notion of the case based upon the 
best possible evidence available. Of course, our different 
States have directed the plan to be followed by the laws 
which they have enacted for governing consolidation, but 
the right of petition cannot be abridged because this is 
guaranteed by the National Constitution and must be up- 
held, by every State Constitution. Therefore the voice of 
all the people ought to be heard when they are universally 
concerned in the final decision to be made. 

The plan of procedure ought to be determined by first 
ascertaining what provisions are made by law for instituting 
and governing consolidation in the State, and the plan 
should be presented for careful study to all of the people 
concerned. Then in the open forum every question should 




Types of Modern Consolidated Schools 

These three buildings contain four, six, and eight rooms, reading from the top down- 
ward. Such schools can be made community- center schools of large usefulness. 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 141 

be presented, both for and against the proposed plan, and 
placed side by side in the regular order. The weight of the 
one against the other ought to be honestly applied, and the 
value of the weight should be set forth in clear-cut princi- 
ples. The ultimate aim of the decision reached should have 
the best educational welfare of the children of the commu- 
nity as the prime object, because this translated into good 
citizenship means a nation established upon the best that 
mankind has to offer. 

The consolidation movement began in Massachusetts, in 
1869, but the first State west of the Alleghanies to use the 
idea was Ohio, where the consolidation of schools first began 
in 1892. Since that date marked progress has been made 
not only in Ohio, but in many of the Central and Western 
States as well. Perhaps the most important consolidations 
have been accomplished in Indiana, working under the 
township system, and in Utah, working under the county- 
unit plan. In some of the northern counties in Indiana, 
where the land is relatively levels almost all the schools 
in the county have been consolidated, and in their place 
there exists to-day only a much smaller number of central- 
ized schools of the best class. In such Southern States as 
Georgia and Florida, as well as in such Western States as 
Idaho and Washington, good progress, has also been made. 

The map on the following page, showing the extent to 
which consolidation had taken place in one Indiana county, 
illustrates the plan very well. This shows that eleven con- 
solidated districts had been formed at the time the map was 
made, some quite small and others fairly large, and in these 
all the one-teacher schools had been closed and the children 
from these were transported daily to and from the central 
schools. The children in such are gathered up in wagons 
each morning, carried three or four or five or six miles to the 
central school, and returned to their homes each evening. 




LS6CND 

ONE ROOM DISTRICT SCMOOL 

CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

eOUNDARr OF CONSOUDATED DISTRICT... 

STEAM ROAO. 

CLECTRIC ROAD 

roriH 



..a 



Map Showing School Consolidation in one Indiana County 

Area of county, 399 square miles. The fine lines are section lines, from which it may be 
seen that the area of some townships is 30 and of others 25 or 36 square miles. At the time 
this map was made, rural-school consolidation had extended over 47.6 per cent of the area 
of the county. At that time, too, 67 wagons and several interurban car lines transported 
daily about 1300 school-children to and from school. After belonging to a consolidated 
school for one year, one district in Salem Township withdrew, and reopened its district 
school. After one year's retrial of the old plan, the patrons, convinced that the consolidated 
school was better, abandoned the district school permanently, sold the schoolhouses, and 
returned to the consolidated school. 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 143 

This county still showed fifty-one one-room schools in 
existence, and it is probable that, either by uniting with 
neighboring unions or the formation of additional union 
schools, the remaining fifty-one schools could be closed and 
all the children of the county, outside of the central city, 
could be taught in some fifteen or sixteen consolidated 
schools, and taught better than could be done in the one- 
room schools. Where a county is relatively level, the popu- 
lation not too sparse, and where roads will permit of trans- 
portation, the consolidation of schools idea has much to 
commend it. In larger consolidated schools a type of edu- 
cation better suited to the needs and wants of country chil- 
dren can be provided. It is in such consolidated schools, 
too, that the community centers, mentioned in Chapter 
XIII, can best be developed. Such schools, provided with an 
assembly hall and rooms for instruction in agriculture, man- 
ual training, and domestic science, and often with partial 
high-school advantages attached, become landmarks for the 
country round about and matters of much community 
pride. 

The pictures showing three means for transporting pupils 
to and from school illustrate the three main plans in use. 
At first horses and wagons were used almost exclusively. 
Later the trolley car was employed, where routes would per- 
mit, to supplement the wagons. With the coming of good 
roads the school automobile bus is rapidly coming into use, 
superseding horses and wagons, and materially lengthening 
the distance to which children can be transported, and hence 
increasing the size of the consolidated district that is pos- 
sible. About six miles is the limit of horse and wagon trans- 
portation; in California the school automobiles are carrying 
children twenty miles. Instead of the child walking to a 
small school near by, the consolidation movement changes 
the process and carries the child, often some distance, to a 



144 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

large and a good school, and often to one where he can obtain 
partial high-school advantages as well and a general educa- 
tion every bit as good as the city boy or girl to-day enjoys. 
The wagon or automobile takes him from his home each 
morning, lands him safely and dry at the school, eliminates 
tardiness and much absence, and takes him back to his home 
each evening. 

The advantages and disadvantages of the consolidation 
idea may be summarized, as follows. The advantages are: 

1. Both the enrollment and the attendance for the consolidated 
area are increased. The gain in attendance for the sixth, 
seventh, and eighth grades is particularly marked. The pro- 
vision of high-school advantages brings in older pupils, now 
absent from the district schools. 

2. Tardiness and absences are reduced to a minimum. The 
driver of the wagon or bus becomes the school-attendance 
officer. 

3. Pupils arrive dry and warm each day; there is no wet clothing 
to be dried, and colds and other troubles due to exposure are 
materially reduced. 

4. The pupils are under the care of a responsible person to and 
fro, and quarreling, smoking, profanity, vulgarity, and im- 
proper language and conduct are prevented. In some com- 
munities such protection to girls is very desirable. 

5. Better grading and classification of pupils is made possible, 
larger classes stimulate rivalry, and new interest and enthu- 
siasm are introduced into the school work. 

6. The number of grades which each teacher has to teach is re- 
duced, with a consequent lengthening of the recitation pe- 
riods. Each child receives more and better attention. 

7. The special school subjects — music, agriculture, manual 
training, household arts — can be provided for in a way 
hardly possible in the one-room school. 

8. Better school buildings and sites are provided, and better 
teaching equipment secured. This is made possible by reason 
of the larger taxing area, and more taxpayers to help pay for 
these advantages. 

. 9. Longer school terms are provided, better teachers can be 




Wagons used in Springfield Township, Clark County, Ohio 



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Special school car on Cleveland and Southwestern Electric Line to Elyria 




School automobile in Imperial County, California 
Different Meaxs for Transporting Pupils 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 145 

secured and retained, and supervision somewhat like that 
which has made the citj^ school so successful may be provided. 

10. Community interest in education is quickened, and commu- 
nity pride in the school awakened to a new degree. The com- 
munity is improved, as well as the school. 

11. Enough pupils are brought together at one place to permit of 
organized plays and games, and the great educative value of 
directed play is made available. 

12. The superior advantages cost but little if any more, and 
sometimes actually cost less. 

The disadvantages of the plan are about as follows: 

1. Dislike of parents to sending their children so far away from 
home, little realizing that a child who has to walk a mile is 
actually farther away than a child who is carried six, and, in 
case of sickness, in a much more serious plight. 

2. Necessity of taking a cold noon lunch, instead of coming home 
at noon. Few country children do come home, while the hot 
noon lunch, described in a later chapter, can be made to solve 
all such objections. 

3. Additional expense to parents to provide proper clothing for 
children attending a larger school. This objection is usually 
found to have little weight. 

4. Children obliged to travel so far, start so early, and be subject 
to bad company en route. These objections are sometimes 
based on facts, but usually can be obviated by proper trans- 
portation arrangements. 

5. Consolidation leads to the depreciation of property, and de- 
creased valuation of farms where schools have been closed. 
This has been found not to be true in practice. A poor one- 
room school on a farm does not increase its value as much as a 
good school, five or six miles away, to which children have 
easy access. 

6. Local jealousy; an acknowledgment that some community is 
attracting population or securing advantages and outstrip- 
ping other sections. There is no remedy for this, and natural 
economic forces cannot be prevented in their action, whether 
schools are consolidated or not. 

7. It removes an ancient landmark, and is in the nature of an 
innovation. Often this is an argument for consolidation, 
rather than against it. 



146 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What are the strongest points in favor of combining several one-room 
rural schools into a consolidated union? 

2. How many classes is it necessary for a teacher of a one-room school to 
conduct each day if the full eight grades of the elementary school are 
represented? 

3. How often should children recite each day, and what time ought to be 
» given to each class in order that the character of the work be up to 

standard? 

4. What conditions in your own district are necessary to overcome in 
order to make consolidation practical? Considering topography and 
road conditions, what districts are most adaptable to become a part 
of an association with your own? 

5. What would you consider a good working plan for the investigation of 
the value of consolidation and its effect upon the educational oppor- 
tunities offered? 



CHAPTER XVI 
REDIRECTED EDUCATION 

Much has been said recently about the need for redirected 
education. Business men have urged that the schools too 
long have been permitted to follow along a well-beaten path 
and have been influenced in their curricula by traditions 
long since out of date. Such men have usually offered crit- 
icism without pointing out a remedy, and to this extent their 
statements have simply become destructive. A few times 
remedies have been offered which were impossible, under ex- 
isting conditions and circumstances, and occasionally sug- 
gestions have been made which have proved to be construc- 
tive and valuable. Such a situation is sure to come about 
when a spirit of dissatisfaction pervades any organization. 
Many criticisms which have been offered concerning public- 
school work have come from well-meaning people whose 
complaints were stated in glittering generalities. They had 
no basis of fact at hand and consequently were unable to 
point out specifically what the difficulties were, nor could 
they offer any workable plan for improvement. In this way 
much criticism was made that was unwarranted, and many 
statements were made which were unfounded. It is clearly 
evident that the direct results coming from such criticism 
could prove in no way beneficial to the schools. 

Indirect results growing out of this destructive criticism 
aroused a defensive response from som^e individuals who felt 
more keenly the responsibility for existing conditions, and 
this set in motion a wave of investigation which has brought 
about an unbiased study, not only of conditions in the 
schools but also of the educational needs of the present time. 



148 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

From this careful study comes constructive suggestions 
which have caused a " testing out " of many new things, both 
in plan and in materials used. It has resulted in the elimi- 
nation of much superfluous matter, and in adding to and 
enriching the school curricula. 

It has also had the effect of vitalizing the school by provid- 
ing a lawful coordination with practical problems which the 
child will be called upon to meet as a useful citizen. All 
material traditional in character is under investigation, and 
evolutionary work, if not revolutionary work, is in progress. 
Many mistakes have been made in trying to readjust too 
rapidly, and more are sure to come in connection with our 
further changes. This should not discourage us, however, 
nor cause a desire to turn back to the old plan, because many 
improvements have been made which are decidedly bene- 
ficial, and on the whole our gains are many times greater 
than our losses. 

It is the desire of every good citizen to make the public 
school serve in the largest way the needs of a progressive 
race. It is the wish that its policies and plans be changed 
often enough to keep it in harmony with the responsibilities 
demanded of its people. It is not willed, how^ever, that it 
be made the subject of constant bickering, nor that changes 
be made for the purpose of satisfying the whims of some dis- 
gruntled individual. Whatever changes are made should be 
based upon a careful study of conditions and needs, and the 
new plan adopted should be thoroughly tested by actual 
practice before it is universally accepted. The application 
of wise counsel is the best means of minimizing mistakes, 
because "in the multiplicity of judgment there is less chance 
for error." 

To make any plan effective requires first an understanding 
on the part of the people, and second their cooperative in- 
terest in carrying it into effect. From this we must conclude 



REDIRECTED EDUCATION 149 

that changes cannot be made too rapidly, nor can they be 
forced upon the people by arbitrary means. But we cannot 
and must not remain at a standstill; we must go forward. 
In order to do this every community must accept some new 
ideas based upon the investigation of others. A complete 
study of the school cannot be made by the officers in every 
district, but it is possible for them to watch results growing 
out of investigation and to note principles applied in other 
schools, and by so doing determine the usefulness of such if 
applied to their respective districts. Again, it is entirely 
safe to adopt any well-known custom in so far as it applies 
to the needs within the home school. 

In the well-directed plan, the child's full development is 
considered. Textbooks can be used only as a means toward 
this end. A lesson within a textbook has no value, except 
as it has a bearing upon the needs of life. Answering ques- 
tions correctly has little value, unless the questions stimulate 
thought or invoke judgment. The old plan of the recitation 
must give way to the newer idea of intelligent reaction. The 
need of accuracy can be best understood by applying it to 
everyday transactions. The child on the farm can readily 
understand what it would mean to miscount the eggs and to 
sell twelve dozen for ten, or to miscalculate the payment in 
money by estimating this on sixteen dozen when the actual 
number was eighteen dozen. He can readily see why his 
mother should be dissatisfied with fifteen yards of cloth when 
she paid the merchant for seventeen and one half yards. 
The introduction of manual training in the school gives prac- 
tical problems for measurement, and provides the means for 
arithmetical calculation based upon something real. Domes- 
tic science gives the girl an incentive for practical reading; 
and at the same time gives her a new vision of home- 
making, and a greater joy in work which sometimes is con- 
sidered only as a necessary routine of labor. The use of the 



150 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

hot noon lunch is not only conducive to better health condi- 
tions, but offers an opportunity for the establishment of 
social customs and of establishing personal characteristics of 
good breeding. Good school-keeping creates a desire advan- 
tageous to good home-making, and orderly habits acquired 
through proper school direction will carry over into the 
child's general characteristics. The kindly attitude fostered 
on the supervised playground is an advantage in cultivating 
a good disposition. So it is that redirected education means 
not only new subject-matter, but also a practical application 
of all school activities to meet individual needs. 

The manual- training shop offers a place to train the hand 
in skill, and to give practical knowledge concerning the use 
of tools. Many useful articles can be made in the school 
shop which are valuable in the home, while at the same time 
principles of arithmetical accuracy and exact measurements 
are being applied as lessons of individual value. The boy 
works as he thinks, and he thinks more earnestly because of 
the interest he finds in the real problem he is working out. 
The same principle applies to home economics for the girl. 
The stitches learned are at once used in making useful arti- 
cles for herself or for some member of the family. As the 
work advances it enlarges in opportunity, and becomes more 
and more real to her as it meets her own necessity. Cookery 
grows in interest as chemical analysis is understood, and the 
changes that take place by means of heat are discovered. 
When it is shown that the well-balanced ration applied to 
the three meals each day has a direct bearing upon health, 
it takes on an added interest. 

The study of agriculture gives a new conception of 
"Mother Earth" as a great laboratory, and the bounteous 
supply of wealth which she yields up annually through her 
plant life for mankind's benefit. To know the relation of 
soil and plant life is important, and with this the effect that 



REDIRECTED EDUCATION 151 

climate, altitude, and latitude have upon the same. Such 
knowledge is usable and at the same time offers every op- 
portunity for study, for investigation, for the application of 
judgment; it provides the means for the use of language, for 
the study of common words, and for making calculations of 
the most varied character. This work in the school stimu- 
lates greater activity in gardening, in rearing farm animals of 
the right sort, and in community club organizations. It 
aids in the development of better things in general, gives aid 
to county and state fair exhibits, and must result finally in 
better farming and better products. 

The school must be provided with the proper means of 
social entertainment. In fact, its organization should be 
planned in a manner to emphasize this continually. The 
association through the school day should be used as one of 
the best means of educational advancement. To do this 
will require a wholesome attitude of mind and a general 
respect for the rights and privileges of others. 

Every child should be given as much freedom as can be 
used for his advantage without infringing upon the rights of 
others. The greater his self-control, the more freedom can 
be given. So the school organization should be used as a 
means to encourage the liberty of each child by giving him a 
more wholesome respect for the rights of his associates. It 
should be used as a restraining influence only in so far as this 
is necessary to suppress the baser nature until a more whole- 
some attitude toward comrades and classmates is established. 
Good surroundings add so much to this that it cannot be 
emphasized too strongly. Attractive interior conditions 
and artistic exterior surroundings have their disciplinary- 
effect and provide a means for better school spirit. 

In the redirected plan the school should be able to extend 
its influence into the home as well as into the work of the 
community. The adult members of the family must find an 



152 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

interest in the work that is being done in order to stimulate 
greater activity on the part of the family members who are 
enrolled in the school. The school social should be a neigh- 
borhood event, and parents should cooperate in making this 
a success. The older members can always shape the direc- 
tion of social activities if they enter into this with a whole- 
some attitude. As an educational force for the strengthen- 
ing of character, such events offer the rarest opportunity. 

The church as an agency for shaping thought and in- 
stilling nobler ideals should enter into the scheme of redirec- 
tion, and by so doing become a counterpart of the plan which 
eventually must win for it universal recognition. It must 
be regarded in this light in this larger plan of education. 
Spiritual understanding becomes the third member of the 
great triumvirate. It is not the least important because it is 
mentioned last. It occupies this place rather because it adds 
the crowning features necessary to complete the symmetry of 
the perfect human being. 

Elsewhere I have mentioned the need for health and the 
advantage of a good physique, but muscle and brawn alone 
have been expressed in the old adage, "A strong back but a 
light head." When we sharpen the mental faculties so that 
the mind comprehends clearly and realizes fully the natural 
laws and their application to life, and add this to splendid 
physical development, we still have an individual represent- 
ing but two thirds of what was intended for the full measure 
of manhood. How necessary each of these is to complete 
success is quite generally known. But the third member has 
not come to be universally accepted as a necessity in per- 
fecting the plan. When this is done man's supreme nature 
will be fully established on earth and his mission will come to 
be more clearly comprehended. To live out the span of his 
allotted years will not be enough, but he will stand forth as 
a direct representative of the highest creation of God. 



REDIRECTED EDUCATION 15S 

Redirected education should aim at nothing less than this. 
It should be satisfied with no means which provides partial 
development. It must call to its aid every agency which can 
in any way affect man's better self. It cannot forget that 
the early years represent the impressionable time and the 
formative period; that the years of maturity represent the 
time of ripening the seed thoughts of youth into mature 
judgment so that this may be applied to everyday decisions. 
We can see the body grow stronger; we can perceive mind 
development; but we must be able to feel the spiritual in- 
fluences within us before there is tangible evidence of its 
actual existence. The larger plan of education, then, must 
include the school with every advantage that can be offered; 
must include the home with all of the splendid influences and 
assets; must include the church as universally necessary; 
must include any other and all other agencies that may be 
used to increase man's efficiency and enrich his conception 
of the full measure of life. In promoting such redirected 
education the school trustee can play an important part. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. Since education must adapt itself to the needs of our people, what do 
you consider to be the necessary changes in order to redirect our school 
work to harmonize with the necessities of the present time? 

2. All about us we see changes in the plan of farming and new inventions 
in farm machinery; does it require more skill to conduct a modern 
farm properly than it did half a century ago, as you understand the 
need of that time? 

3. To what extent can a school prove effective if it is conducted wholly 
by means of the use of textbooks? 

4. Do those who work scientifically with their hands think less specif- 
ically than those who are unable to apply the result of their thinking 
to practical necessities of life and living? 

5. To what extent does the school give confidence, so that the young 
person may properly apply the knowledge in a practical way? 

6. What definite things should a district have in mind when making 
plans for a school in which it expects to create the greatest stimuli for 
good for all of its children? 



CHAPTER XVII 

PRACTICAL EDUCATION 

The terms "practical education" and "practical training" 
have come to be quite commonly applied to the vocational 
and to the prevocational side of our educational work. The 
general public, it seems, has come to think of our educational 
system as having a practical side, and another side which has 
not true application to the needs and requirements of life. 
It may be noted also that some individuals have declared 
with a great deal of emphasis that we ought to have less book 
education and more industrial education. The fact is that 
there has been quite a common disagreement as to just what 
constitutes the best kind of education, and what process 
shall be used in securing it. These controversies, however, 
have served only to stimulate thought and investigation, 
and in the end good results are sure to come from them. 

A long time ago philosophers attempted to define educa- 
tion and to describe the exact processes to be followed in 
order to obtain it. Each man in his ^time believed that he 
was able to give the correct definition, but no two of them 
exactly agreed. In our modern age our best educators have 
concluded that education is really something indefinable; 
that it represents a development so broad and so varied that 
it is impossible to make a definition which accurately includes 
all its phases. Those who have studied the question most 
carefully believe that any kind of mental development is 
valuable, but, since each individual has but a limited num- 
ber of years during childhood to prepare for life's duties, it 
becomes a very important question what kind of curriculum 
should be followed in school in order to provide best for life's 



PRACTIC.VL EDUCATION 155 

greatest possibilities and duties in the allotted time. It may 
be well to say at this time that it is generally agreed that, as 
individuals differ in their characteristics and in their tastes, 
so also must the plans and processes of mental development 
vary in order to make possible the best means for training 
children in such a manner as to develop their highest powers 
in order to make them the most useful citizens. It is quite 
true, of course, that all children should be well grounded in 
the essentials which are to be used as a foundation for the 
superstructure of their special training. It is not necessary 
that each child take exactly the same subjects throughout 
the school course. In practically all of our schools there will 
be found varied courses, and the right of choice is allowed to 
all students in so far as the course chosen does not become 
one-sided in its nature. In other words, there are opportu- 
nities for students in the high school to finish the course by 
several different routes. The same thing is now permitted 
even in the grades, and it is no longer thought necessary that 
each student shall complete the subject-matter just as it has 
been handed down through the traditions of the past. 

Arithmetic may be made just as practical as bench-work 
in manual training. In fact, arithmetic becomes practical 
when it is applied to the hand-work necessary to the best 
training for the everyday duties of life. Geography is also 
practical when applied properly to the world's great com- 
merce and the industries of mankind. History is practical 
when studied from the standpoint of the development of 
the race, with proper application made to the present-day 
conditions. In short, it may be said that any subject out- 
lined in the school curriculum may be made of the most 
practical character, if it be studied aright and applied in the 
right manner. It is the point of view, then, that really 
makes the subject what it is* From this may be seen that 
what I have said in another chapter is most significant; 



156 HANDBOOK FOR mjRAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

namely, that the teacher thoroughly trained, having the 
modern viewpoint, and a strong personality, may put into 
any subject so much of her own life and characteristics that 
it will become intensely interesting to a class of young peo 
pie who formerly found the same subject very dry under the 
instruction of a different type of teacher. We must have, 
therefore, not only our chosen subjects, and a well-balanced 
school curriculum, but we must have the classwork in each 
case such that those instructed may receive the maximum of 
benefit. We ought to have a place for hand- work if the child- 
life is to be properly trained; but this work poorly done, with- 
out any inspiration and without arousing the interest of the 
class, would be of no special advantage. Of course, there is 
more real life-problem in work of this character, and the 
native tendencies of the child are more easily influenced in 
that direction. For this reason it is much easier to teach 
the manual arts in an interesting way than to teach formal 
grammar in such a way as to make the class appreciate its 
worth as a necessary element in their life's training. 

Since a very large majority of those who enroll in the pub- 
lic schools never have an opportunity to go beyond the 
eighth grade, it is quite essential that we begin our combina- 
tion course of study as far down in the grades as practicable, 
but we should see to it, whenever work of the so-called "prac- 
tical" nature is made part of the regular school work, that 
the instruction insure training that is valuable to the chil- 
dren. If manual training in any of its phases is taught, the 
teacher must know how to present this work so as to bring 
good results. Equipment of the proper kind must be pro- 
vided whenever work of this kind is undertaken, and while 
it need not be an expensive department, the apparatus must 
be so well chosen that good service may be had from it. 
Things that relate to home and farm should receive empha- 
sis, and the work should include the mending of shoes and 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION 157 

harness and cement work. In the home-economic depart- 
ment the essentials may be provided very reasonably, but 
even in the one-room school the work of the department can 
be made most valuable and most practical to the school and 
to the community. A hot lunch served at the noon hours, 
and lunches served during community meetings, are some 
of the practical ways in which such a department may be 
made to serve directly. 

To every child should be given some glimpse into Mother 
Earth's great laboratories and storehouses. He should 
know how man's cooperation with Nature's laws makes the 
earth yield up her rich treasures to feed millions. The child 
should be made to understand that scientific laws are re- 
vealed through Nature and life that surround him on every 
side. Plant-life and the animal world both offer stores of a 
most interesting and practical character. Real agriculture 
should be introduced into the upper grammar grades, with 
emphasis placed on the home community. The live-stock 
of the neighborhood is worthy of most careful consideration 
in connection with this study. Orchards and fruit trees 
should be thoroughly examined. The Babcock Milk Tester 
should be a part of the equipment in every neighborhood in 
which dairying is the occupation of the people. The weeds 
of the neighborhood will form the basis of a great deal of 
field and research work. Selection and testing of seeds, if 
rightly directed, may be made very helpful to the farmers 
of the community. Farm machinery and its improvement 
offers a large field for investigation. Roads and road- 
building should receive a place in this special work. 

The subject of agriculture when introduced into the grades 
of the common schools should not be bookish, but should 
come out of the natural conditions existing in the neighbor- 
hood. If carried on in this way the children will come 
to know their own community as they have not known it 



158 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

before, and will come to appreciate the occupation of their 
fathers as they are not likely otherwise to do. Farming is 
not a routine of events and circumstances, as some would 
have us understand. It has in it the most of life, the great- 
est possibilities, the most elevating ideals, and the most 
sacred principles found in any occupation known to civilized 
mankind. When put upon this basis, work in the soil be- 
comes a pleasure and not a drudgery. The earth becomes a 
scientific laboratory to the intelligent mind, and great joy 
comes to him to whom Mother Earth trusts her most pre- 
cious secrets. 

What we need in our school is a well-balanced curriculum 
which will give the best insight into life. That is to say, 
it should provide regular classroom work based upon a 
combination of textbook instruction and its application to 
everyday duties and requirements. This is very necessary 
to the best mental development and training; it gives the 
learner an opportunity to gain a great deal of knowledge 
from the experience of the past. There is also a mind devel- 
opment that should come to the child through his own ex- 
periences made possible through permanent investigation. 
A well-balanced program will provide for both kinds of 
learning, divided in such a way as to bring about the best 
training for the pupil. It must be remembered that the 
public school is organized for childhood and youth, and all 
the directing forces should tend to make this institution a 
place where child-life may be trained for good citizenship, 
and be prepared to do the world's work in a creditable 
manner. 

As our social and economic conditions change from decade 
to decade, so also must the school change to meet the new 
demands in citizenship. Every child should be trained in 
such a manner that he will fit into the conditions around him 
in a harmonious way and be able to live a happy as well as a 



PRACTICiU. EDUCATION 159 

useful life. If every individual is able to apply the knowl- 
edge there is at hand in the right manner, then the problems 
that arise from time to time will be easily solved. No knowl- 
edge, therefore, is worth while unless it can be utilized in 
some w^ay for good. It must bring comfort, it must give joy, 
either to one's self or to others, or it is of no effect. We may 
say, then, that the greater the comfort or joy which comes 
from it, the more valuable a possession it proves. 

The public school has been organized for many years, and 
represents the different time-conditions through which it 
has passed. The very best thought of the time has been 
given to it, and despite the fact that it has recently been 
subjected to severe criticism, it is an institution which is and 
ought to be the pride of our land. It has surely done a great 
work if results are to form the basis of our decision. Our 
great commonwealth has prospered under its influences to 
such an extent that we have made greater progress in the 
last century than was made in two thousand years under the 
ancient form of education. In comparing the nations of the 
world that have pubhc educational systems, with those that 
have none, it will readily be seen that education pays as no 
other enterprise of the people can pay. Intelligence is the 
prime requirement for national as well as for individual pros- 
perity; hence the basis for all our wealth and progress must 
be laid in our common schools. 

Let us consider then, wisely and well, and make such im- 
provements in this institution as the spirit of the times de- 
mands; let us be ever willing to modernize public-school work 
and bring it into close relationship with life and living. 
But let us look askance at any one who can only find fault 
with the earnest efforts of the past, and who advocates toss- 
ing aside everything old connected wuth education and put- 
ting something wholly new in its place. Such radical meas- 
ures have always worked to the disadvantage of the common 



160 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

good, and from the historic past we learn that great results 
brought about gradually have been those that have stood the 
test of time and proved their worth in the world's slow but 
steady advance. The school, as it is now, needs thought and 
consideration. It needs cooperation in devising ways and 
means for its best development. It needs our earnest sup- 
port, rather than our wholesale condemnation, if we would 
make it a better institution than it now is. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. Are there any subjects taught in our common schools that are not 
practical in their application to our needs, and therefore not necessary 
to our educational development? 

2. Do you consider the subject-matter itself, or the manner in which it 
is taught in order to make it applicable, of greater importance? 

3. What definition would you give for education, as you would have it 
apply directly to the development of your own children? 

4. How would you compare the value of the personal element vitalized 
by the teacher, and the academic element portrayed in the adopted 
textbooks, in their value to stimulate the best effort in children? 

5. What subjects do you consider absolutely necessary for each child to 
study in order to create a broad general basis in education through 
our elementary schools? 



CHAPTER XVIII 

MANUAL TRAINING AND THE HOME ECONOMICS 

The public-school system has always been interested in the 
welfare of its patrons — the general public — and has been 
keen to give to them the best that education has in store. 
With this end in view the public-school system has studied 
the subject of manual training; it has been endeavoring to 
determine what to teach and what not to teach, and what 
are the best methods of teaching that which it does teach. 
It has been testing theories concerning manual training 
— determining the content of manual training which is 
adaptable to the public schools. It has been sifting out the 
false from the true. 

And now it says to us that as a result of this careful study, 
these experiments and this sifting-out process, that manual 
training is equally valuable and applicable to the schools of 
the great metropolis, of the small centers of population, of 
the villages, and of the rural communities, and that a system 
of manual training is absolutely essential to the complete 
harmonious development of every individual; that it lays 
the foundation upon which is built the training by which 
nine tenths of our entire population earn a livelihood, and 
that it furnishes an important means of self-expression to 
the individual. 

Real education is that development and training of the 
individual which best fits him to meet successfully the prob- 
lems put upon him by his environment. These problems 
are many and varied, and differ with each individual. They 
consist essentially, first, in securing a livelihood; second, in 
promoting the general welfare of the community; and third. 



162 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

in contributing as large a share as possible to the i>ermanent 
improvement and advaneement of the community, of the 
State and Nation, and of humanity at large. 

The legitimate aim of manual training in all fields is to 
train the individual to see things in their proper relations, to 
know that which is worth knowing, and to do practical and 
useful things. Closely and inseparably linked with manual 
training is vocational guidance and vocational education. 
Every teacher whenever possible should render vocational 
guidance, but no other teacher has the opportimity, in this 
respect, which the manual-training teacher has, since nine 
out of every ten pupils whom he teaches — and he should 
teach all — must earn a living by use of the hands, or in 
other words, by an industrial occupation. What the indi- 
vidual does in manual training is by far the safest guide as 
to what vocation his abilities will best fit him for. 

This training gives a broad outlook upon the field of in- 
dustries, and lays the foundation upon which may be de- 
veloped skill in the various trades and industrial callings. 
Even the one child in ten in om* public schools who doi^s not 
become a tradesman or an industrial worker of any sort is 
greatly helped by this work, for without it he can never at- 
tain complete development and can never be so well bal- 
anced as with it. If he is to become a banker, the better 
judgment which has been developed by his training in ob- 
servation, and his careful study of the relation of things, will 
make him a better financier. Likewise, if he is to become a 
lawyer, his mind will respond more quickly, he will act with 
more confidence and precision, and he will have a keener 
insight into the aft'airs of men for this training. If he is to 
become a merchant, the knowledge gained of materials will 
be directly useful to him. and he will have a more definite 
kuowloilge of the process of manufacture and of the finished 
product which he uses in his business. And so we might go 



MANUAL TRAININCx AND HOME ECONOMICS 1C3 

on and show advantages gained for the work of the various 
professions and callings. 

Abstractly, manual training develops the ability to ob- 
serve, to reason; emphasizes habits of industry, neatness, ac- 
curacy, and order; tends to create self-confidence; brings the 
mind, the eye, and the hand into more j)erfect coordination; 
teaches the dignity of labor, and the appreciation of beauty 
and design in construction; and altogether makes the indi- 
vidual who receives its advantages a more efficient citizen, 
because that which teaches the dignity of labor, accuracy, 
beauty, and strength tends to produce a truthful, honest, 
and industrious individual. 

When education in the rural communities realizes its pos- 
sibilities, our boys and girls who are now leaving the farm 
and flocking to the already overcrowded cities will engage in 
scientific farming, stock raising, and fruit growing, and op- 
portunities for success nowhere else to be equalled will be 
realized. That education is most valuable which is most 
practical. That is, the things which are taught must be 
those which the child can make use of at the present time, 
especially in the lower grades. The real interest which a 
child has in education is embodied in that part which he may 
make serve his immediate purpose. 

Manual training is not a distinct and independent subject; 
it is rather the fundamental, vital, and vitalizing part of all 
or most subjects. To discuss manual training in even its 
most important relations with other subjects would be the 
work of an entire volume; hence this discussion of the sub- 
ject treats it as more or less isolated and apart from its rela- 
tion to other subjects. In this connection it is suflBcient to 
say that from one third to one half the entire time of the 
school day should be given to the manual side of the various 
subjects, and that all experimental and laboratory work is 
manual training. 



164 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

That manual training is vitalizing is shown by the results 
obtained in many schools, in all parts of the country. In 
sortie of these schools only the pupils who were backward, 
deficient, or indifferent were given the distinctly manual- 
training work. In most cases, improvement in interest was 
shown, and in many cases improvement in health was shown. 
In schools where the comparisons were made, the backward, 
the dull, or the indifferent child was able, in many cases, 
after one or two years in a manual training-school, to pass a 
better test in the regular subjects of the school curriculum 
than the fair or brighter pupils who remained in the regular 
schools. And of course, besides having a better knowledge 
of the subjects of the regular school, the formerly backward, 
dull, or indifferent student had a vast amount of useful train- 
ing and knowledge which the other pupils lacked almost en- 
tirely. The dormant powers of the individual are awakened 
and stimulated by his contact with real things. The final 
test of all education is whether it produces in the individual 
the power to do. If it does, it is good; if it does not, it is 
of little value. The keynote of all manual training is useful- 
ness. The key to "what to teach'* is found in the interests 
of the community. 

When we say that all manual training must be useful, we 
should be careful that we understand what we mean by use- 
ful, for herein have many erred. Some form of work in 
manual training should start with the earliest grades, and 
should continue throughout the grades. At first very little 
should be attempted. Toward the end of grade work, the 
proportion should be about half and half. The things made 
are useful if they satisfy a need which the child feels, or 
if they help him to express his individuality, — himself. 
They may be utterly useless from the viewpoint of the 
adult. School gardens furnish a fertile field for manual 
training. Problems in paper folding and cutting, cardboard 




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MANUAL TRAINING AND HOME ECONOMICS 165 

construction work, booklet making, coping saw work in thin 
woods, raffia, reed and textile work or their substitutes in 
local materials, are the sources of the earlier manual training 
in the grades. Fundamental to this work and coordinated 
with it throughout should be the work in drawing. Many 
of these problems involve training in color and design; so 
the artistic should go hand in hand with the practical in all 
of the work undertaken. This again illustrates the possi- 
bilities of tying together all school work into a single educa- 
tive process. 

Up to the fifth or sixth grade the work for girls and boys 
may be the same, or practically the same, varying only with 
the teacher's opportunities. Beginning with the sixth grade 
the work for the two sexes should take somewhat different 
form — the boys' work involving manual training in its 
more complete, organized form, and the girls giving their 
attention to the work of home economics. In both cases 
the problems of work should be planned and formulated in 
close connection with the needs of the community. They 
should not only look forward to the present needs, but 
should seek to formulate means of improvement in the 
community and should stimulate new interest for general 
betterment. 

In manual training for the boys the outlined course should 
provide for the use of such materials as wood, cold metal, 
leather, and concrete. The problems in wood should in- 
volve the construction of useful articles about the home on 
the ranch. The problems in cold metal should be largely 
repair work — making use of tin, sheet iron, brass and cop- 
per, and of the heavier materials. The problems in leather 
should involve the repairing of shoes and harness. The 
problems in concrete should consist of the study of the 
composition and proportion of substances for different 
mixtures, a study of the effect of different methods of treat- 



166 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

ing the materials, and finally the general plan of moulding 
these mixtures into useful articles. In all wood problems, 
articles should involve the different kinds of joints, using 
the simplest first, and should involve the use of the com- 
mon tools — each one in its turn with careful explanation 
given by the teacher concerning its name and its particular 
use. In the beginning the boys may make birdhouses, 
chicken feeders, wash benches, blackening boxes, etc. 
Later the work may be made more difficult, and include 
hog feeders, water troughs, whipple-trees, three-horse even- 
ers, etc. Excellent water troughs, lawn seats, and orna- 
ments can be made from concrete, using reinforcing. In 
sheet metal the first articles should be very simple, such as 
an automatic match box, biscuit cutter funnel, measuring 
cup, and the like. 

Every boy should be encouraged to provide himself with 
a set of good tools, beginning with the simpler pieces first 
and building toward a complete set which will best serve his 
purpose on the farm. All should be taught how to care for 
tools, and to keep them in a systematic and orderly way. 
They should learn that to be valuable a tool must be kept in 
good condition. It is necessary to work from drawings or 
from blue-prints just as soon as the work becomes sufficiently 
complicated to require a working plan. 

The work for the girls should, at this differentiated period, 
involve problems in the specific field of home economics. 
The time should be about equally divided between cookery 
and sewing. In sewing the economy of clothing should be 
taught. The beginning work would involve the different 
stages and the necessary hand-work connected with good 
home-making. Wool and cotton fabrics should be studied, 
both from the standpoint of warmth and composition. Raw 
material should be used as samples, in order to show how 
fibrous materials lend themselves to the mechanical process 



MANUAL TRAINING AND HOME ECONOMICS li67 

of weaving. It is' important for girls to know how to mend 
their clothing properly and to keep their wardrobe in a good 
wholesome condition. In connection with this work there 
is an opportunity to teach habits of industry, thrift, neat- 
ness, and accuracy, as well as technical skill. 

In cookery the problems should include the simple study 
of foods, food values, and the need of a balanced ration, 
from the standpoint of cost as well as from the standpoint of 
food value. It is important to have the proper classification 
and understanding in order to select wisely. The proper 
care of foods is also of great importance. In connection 
with this work it is well to teach the pupils care of utensils 
as well as the proper care of foods. Since serving is an im- 
portant part of a palatable meal, this should be emphasized 
through means of practical demonstration. The aim of this 
work should be to develop standards of health, right living, 
livelihood, and proper application. 

There are now many books published which give specific 
outlines both in manual arts and in home economics which 
are adaptable to the upper grade work, and it would seem 
well to have a well-balanced guide-book as an outline for the 
teacher and as a standard for the pupils. Of course it is 
entirely proper to teach all of this work without the use of 
any book, and there can be no objection to such a plan if the 
teacher is thoroughly prepared. The use of the book is 
suggested because of the fact that in the rural schools the 
teacher has many other problems, and usually finds a well- 
selected text of great help in minimizing her arduous tasks 
and in maximizing the opportunities offered to the children. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. How would you combine academic subject-matter with manual-train- 
ing classes in order to secure the best results from the child's time in 
school? 



168 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

2. Should parents decide what their child should follow as a vocation, 
and begin early in life to train him for that work; or should they expect 
his development and adaptation to determine this better as he grows 
into maturity? 

3. How can we best teach the dignity of labor and the value of service, 
so that our children will have the right conceptions as to these things? 

4. Evidences of a scientific age are portrayed everywhere about us; 
should this be less adaptable in its application to farming than to 
other lines of activity, such as business, commerce, etc.? 



CHAPTER XIX 
THE HOT LUNCH AND ITS VALUE 

No discussion of rural school problems is complete without 
some mention of the hot lunch now served in schools in 
nearly every State of the United States. The serving of hot 
food to children in school is not a recent innovation. It 
began in Europe in the latter part of the eighteenth century, 
and the custom now prevails in Belgium, Denmark, Holland, 
Norway, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. 
In America the work was begun in Massachusetts. Now 
the school lunch in one form or another is appearing in all 
parts of our country, in the schools not only of the larger 
cities, but also of the more remote country districts. 

That the custom of serving hot lunches to children at 
school has spread rapidly and has reached large proportions 
indicates that it is meeting a universal need. Physicians, 
school nurses, teachers, and others interested in the conser- 
vation of childhood have long argued that wholesome food 
helps materially in the promotion of both the physical and 
the mental vigor of children, the food supplying the energy 
not only for bodily growth and play, but also for mental 
growth and study. It is this strong conviction on the part 
of those who have studied the problem that has added the 
hot noon lunch to our schools. 

The children to whom the lunch basket is a necessity 
should receive much more careful and thoughtful consider- 
ation than they do at present. They are often obliged to 
go a long distance to school, and during the winter days, es- 
pecially, hurry off with little or no breakfast. They spend 



170 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

the greater part of the day in a room not too well ventilated, 
and as soon as school is out they eat their cold lunch hur- 
riedly and rush off to play. 

Hurried eating prevents proper saHvation and conse- 
quently proper digestion, the mechanics of which are thus 
forced upon the stomach. This greatly increases the work 
of the stomach and the chemical changes are postponed. 
Superimpose upon this the conditions arising from insuffi- 
cient blood supply — the result of physical exercise begun 
immediately after the eating — and there is the beginning 
of digestive disturbances which sooner or later affect the 
child's efficiency. 

It ought to be possible for every rural school to make pro- 
vision to give the children at least one kind of warm food at 
noon. This might be prepared and served by a committee 
chosen from the different classes, and would require only a 
few cooking utensils. No school is too poor to make a be- 
ginning in this work; and a beginning once made the work 
will stand on its merits. It is remarkable how money and en- 
thusiasm will come to the support of a real idea with a real 
plan for its execution. No adverse criticism has been heard 
from pupils, teachers, nor patrons where the plan has been 
tried. All have become enthusiastic supporters of the 
work. 

The following is an expression of a mother's appreciation 
whose five children were attending a rural school where the 
hot lunch was served at the noon hour. This sentiment 
could be duplicated many times from expressions of mothers 
who have learned to appreciate the value of this in connec- 
tion with school work. 

My dear Miss Hold en: I want to write you a few words in favor 
of the hot lunches you are serving to the children, in hopes that I 
may interest some parents who have not had the opportunity of 
getting acquainted with the work. 



THE HOT LUNCH AND ITS VALUE 171 

For a year we have been sending five children to the training de- 
partment of the Normal School at Cheney, where they have re- 
ceived the hot lunches served there. The benefits they have re- 
ceived are many. Their physical health has improved and all have 
gained in ability to do their school work. The training they have 
received in manners and culture is the most noticeable in home life. 
When one of them does not eat as he should, another will say 
"What would Miss Holden say if she could see you do that.'" 
This is a great help to the busy parent, and at the same time 
strengthens the relationship between the home and the school — a 
very desirable thing. The hot lunch has solved the problem of the 
lunch for the mother, as she can depend upon the school lunch to 
supplement the cold food brought from home, and, too, she can 
rely upon it being the kind of food the child needs. The cost is not 
so great as when the child carried all the lunch from home, because 
the mother can put up a much more simple lunch to be eaten with 
the hot food served at school. Our children all enjoy the hot lunch 
and the opportunity to sit at a table, so much more than they did 
the cold lunch and the old way of eating it. I sincerely wish that 
every child who has to carry a cold lunch to school could have such 
lunch benefits as the children do who are able to have it served to 
them, as I understand thej^ do in many of the rural schools, and I 
believe they might if parents only knew of the work carried out by 
and advocated by the Normal School. I, for one, shall be glad to 
help in spreading this information by writing to any one who de- 
sires any further knowledge on the subject if a self-addressed, 
stamped envelope is enclosed. 

Mrs. Mary W. Knowles 

The teacher who has aspirations for her pupils will wel- 
come the serving of the noon lunch as an opportunity for 
constructive thinking by means of which children become 
genuinely sociahzed. She will make use of the opportunity 
to give lessons in domestic science, which will be full of in- 
spiration because of their immediate and practical utility. 
The girl in the country home knows a little about cooking, 
but usually only enough to make her despise it. It does not 
appeal to her as something worth thinking about; its appeal 
is more often from the viewpoint of hard and thankless 



172 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

work. To study cooking at school throws a different light 
upon it, and gives a child a new and lasting interest in it; 
thus, it produces a more thorough-going and sympathetic 
cooperation between the school and the home. The cooking 
itself appeals to a fundamental and universal interest of 
children and consequently arouses their best effort. It pro- 
vides an opportunity for an activity that is entirely free 
from the danger of mental overstrain; it furnishes the oppor- 
tunity to impart much necessary information in regard to 
healthful living — in the study of the cleansing process, in 
the study of the preparation and care of the food, and in the 
manipulation of mechanical contrivances necessary for the 
carrying out of these processes; it helps the children under- 
stand the significance of simple food principles and values 
which strongly influence their lives and physical develop- 
ment; it gives training in habits of order, neatness, thought- 
fulness, helpfulness, and good table usage; and it supphes 
ample material for self-expression and for training in com- 
munity life. 

The noon lunch arouses a vital and intelligent interest in 
the school garden — an important feature of present-day 
education — the fundamental importance and far-reaching 
consequences of which have not reached their highest devel- 
opment. Lessons in hygiene and table etiquette may be 
given more impressively in a natural setting; so also may 
training in conversation, which helps each child to feel that 
he is an integral part of the community. A recent writer 
says, "What makes for hygienic living is as well worth 
knowing from the economic standpoint as what mechanical 
appliances will most increase the output." 

Since the habits of children are likely to follow them 
through life, it is very desirable that they be trained to 
observe at the table the unwritten code of good breeding. 
Through active participation in conversation children soon 





The Hot Noon Lunch in the Rural School 



THE HOT LUNCH AND ITS VALUE 173 

realize that it is the duty of every one to make the daily 
luncheon hour an occasion of mutual entertainment, atten- 
tion, and courtesy, as well as refreshment. 

If, as is generally conceded, the school of to-day is a social 
organization reaching out and touching life at every other 
possible point, thus enriching its own life, then it would seem 
that all things tending to make each member of the school 
feel his relation to the organization as a whole, and accept 
his responsibility for the whole, are vital to the life of that 
organization. Whatever estabhshes in the child the habit 
of doing work for the profit and pleasure of the community 
is a great factor in the development of community spirit. 

The school is a place wherein pupils and teachers Hve 
together. A large part of every day is spent there, and 
pupil and teacher interests center about the school quite 
as strongly as the family interest centers about the home. 
They are in a measure a family, and their success and unity 
depend largely upon their opportunities for coming together 
in an informal way. The noon lunch is a common meeting 
ground. It is a meal where all the children meet with the 
teachers, where all cooperate for the pleasure and well-being 
of the whole, and where all relate their best experiences in 
the choicest language at their command. This daily as- 
sembling around the table brings about a truly friendly feel- 
ing and puts each child and teacher into direct contact with 
the personality of the other children and teachers. The 
httle children learn from contact with the older ones, and 
the older ones get an insight into the interest of the little 
ones that develops a helpful protecting sympathy. The 
environment forbids individual selfishness, and each child 
learns that he is individually responsible for the happiness 
and interest of the whole group. This is ideal community 
Hfe. 

Objection has been made to taking the time of the school 



174 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

for cooking, something which should be taught in the home. 
If scientific and economical domestic economy were taught 
in the home, the objection would be vahd; but it is impossi- 
ble for the busy and often overworked mother on the farm 
to keep abreast of the many changes that are constantly 
taking place in this great problem of efficient housekeeping. 
It would require far more time than the average mother has 
at her disposal to glean from the various sources requisite 
knowledge of the right kind of home. This brings this work 
to the school, and every thoughtful mother should recognize 
that the time spent in the cultivation of the studies for 
home-making is just as valuable as that spent in the acquisi- 
tion of book information. Schools are an organic grow^th of 
society, and represent to a greater or less degree the practical 
wants of the Nation. While book information was sufficient 
to meet the educational needs of our forefathers a century 
ago, it does not meet the needs of the twentieth-century 
child; therefore, the school of to-day should offer every child 
an opportunity to receive a practical education — one which 
may fit him to hold his own in the rough work of actual life, 
and by means of which he may become socially efficient. 
The efficient person of to-day must be a doer among others, 
a laborer in society, a co-worker, a cooperator. The school 
must adjust its course of study to meet the practical needs of 
to-day and to send forth into life the best possible prospec- 
tive men and women. These considerations should dispel 
the prejudices of those persons who feel that there is no time 
in school for practical work — especially for the girl whose 
mission in fife must ultimately be that of the home-keeper. 
All workers for improvement of the home recognize that 
the hope of this improvement depends upon better prepara- 
tion of home-makers for their duties. Cooking in connec- 
tion with the noon lunch offers an opportunity for a begin- 
ning in the training of girls that is essential to the success 



THE HOT LUNCH AND ITS VALUE 175 

and happiness of their Hves and the Hves of others in the 
home. There is sufficient evidence in the world about us 
that education is incomplete, and that our schools do not 
yet fulfil their highest function. When our courses of study- 
are so adjusted that the practical and the theoretical in 
education supplement each other, idleness will be done 
away with, and every moment count for growth; then the 
children of this great land will come into possession of their 
birthright. 

A mother recently expressed her hearty approval of our 
plan in the following language: 

Those who believe that the duties of citizenship are as important 
as those of family life, and that the ability to dweU harmoniously in 
communities and to work for the common good is an important 
end in education, value the training that is given during the one 
meal at which all the children of a neighborhood sit down together 
and at which there is an opportimity to add to the spirit of fellow- 
ship developed in the home, the spirit of a larger fellowship with 
all those of the community. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What good reasons are there for the fact that people desire to have 
their meals served hot and immediately after cooking? 

2. What reasons are generally given for under-nourishment, of mal- 
nutrition, as applied particularly to children? 

3. What effect does indigestion have upon the skin of the individual, as 
well as upon his physical vigor and strength? 

4. What is meant by a well-balanced ration as applied to food for the 
human family? 

5. What means should be used in order to make the cold lunch serve 
the purpose of giving proper vitality to our children, who must de- 
pend upon this important midday meal at school? 



CHAPTER XX 

HEALTH EDUCATION AND MEDICAL INSPECTION 

The twentieth century is marked by an awakened interest 
in the welfare of children. To-day no conference convenes 
without considering the child problem. The teacher and 
the social worker are receiving instruction in health matters 
as a part of their training. Municipal authorities are trying 
to reach parents through the agencies of school inspection, 
visiting nurses, public lectures, and exhibits. Many of our 
States have also recently required the addition of health 
supervision and instruction in hygiene to the requirements 
for all village and rural schools, and have required the ap- 
pointment of county school health ojQficers. With all such 
efforts the rural trustee should heartily cooperate, and 
hearty cooperation will follow when school trustees come 
to have an intelligent conception of the needs for and the 
purposes of the work. 

In the public schools the health work is now being carried 
on with varying degrees of emphasis through the following 
agencies : 

1. Medical inspection, which includes supervision of sanitary 
conditions and of school hygiene; which provides for examina- 
tion of teachers and children; for a record of personal and of 
family history; and for the correction of physical defects. It 
also urges special classes for mental defectives, and the isola- 
tion of contagious and parasitic diseases. 

2. Instruction in hygiene and physical education as an integral 
part of the school program. 

3. Attention to the hjgicne of instruction. 

4. Cooperation of the home and all health agencies. 



HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 177 

School Sanitation 

The first step in the health program for the school is se- 
curing an environment as free as possible from unhealthful 
conditions. School conditions are an index to community 
welfare. School sanitation considers certain things as es- 
sential to a well-regulated wholesome environment for 
teachers and pupils. Many of the faults in school sanita- 
tion are not within the control of the teacher, such as the 
system of lighting, heating, sewage disposal, and ventila- 
tion, which are often wrong by construction. But teachers 
heretofore have suffered through the neglect of the training 
school to prepare them for the supervision of health, and to 
develop in them a health conscience, and a practical knowl- 
edge of sanitation and hygiene. The failure is due to the 
fact that we have grown up in schoolrooms where many 
undesirable conditions exist. We have not been trained in 
sensitiveness to health conditions, and have not realized 
that much of the suffering as well as the economic waste may 
be prevented. 

The person who can permit himself to become stupid 
in a warm, poorly ventilated room is suffering from a lack 
of sense-training in connection with health environment. 
Every schoolroom must have fresh, clean, moving air, 
properly governed by heating and ventilating apparatus. 
In addition to this, the teacher needs to know what consti- 
tutes good air, and what dangers there are in overheating a 
room or reducing its proper amount of humidity. The in- 
jurious conditions of bad air are excessive temperature, un- 
usual humidity, exhalations and disease germs from unclean 
clothing and unhealthy bodies, and dust from the floor, 
blackboard, corners, crevices, and mouldings. The tempera- 
ture of a schoolroom should not fall below 64 degrees nor 
exceed 68 or 70 degrees, while the humidity should be be- 
tween 50 or 60 per cent. 



178 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

As said before, there must be air in motion, and for this 
reason some device must be adopted for allowing the air to 
come into the room without causing a draught. There are 
good ventilating systems even for one-room schools, but if 
such a system cannot be provided, special window boards 
and a ventilator under the stove will be very helpful. It 
has been fully demonstrated that by improving conditions 
of ventilation in the schoolroom there will be less liability 
to sickness, and consequently a greater capacity for work 
on the part of both pupils and teacher. 

The teacher's health is very important; first, for herself, 
and second, because her health has a great deal to do with 
the attitude of the school toward health. Nervous ''break- 
downs" among teachers, so often attributed to overwork, 
are in many instances the result of wrong sanitary condi- 
tions, and lack of recreation or proper food. 

Every teacher should be trained to protect pupils against 
eye injury and eye strain in the schoolroom. We are told 
by medical authorities that eyes are often weakened, if not 
ruined, by glazed paper and blackboard surfaces, lines of the 
wrong length, unsteady, dazzling light, and prolonged con- 
centration. Required home study may deprive a child of 
necessary play and sleep, and by so doing may aggravate 
the effects of harmful school environment. 

A teacher should be made aware also of the effects of dry 
sweeping. This fills the air with dust, and combines with 
bad ventilation, lack of water, and dust-raising physical ex- 
ercises, to supply conditions which favor the spread of dis- 
ease germs, more particularly the tubercular bacilli. Floors 
should always be cleaned in a way to prevent the scattering 
of dust. This may be done by the use of the vacuum cleaner, 
or by sprinkling the floor with " Waxene," "Dust Glow," or 
a similar preparation. 

Nor must muscle comfort be disregarded. Seats and 



HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 179 

desks not properly regulated according to a child's size fre- 
quently deform the spine and the hips, and cramp the lungs. 
In the matter of school furniture there is httle uniformity 
in this country. Numerous styles of desks, adjustable and 
otherwise, are on the market. Some of these are very diffi- 
cult to adjust. A few are supposed to be so easily manipu- 
lated that a child can change one himself. At present there 
is a strong leaning toward hght weight tables and chairs of 
different heights for the schoolroom. The position at the 
desk or table that is best for writing is not good for hand- 
work or reading. The child, however, can be easily taught 
where to place the chair for the different kinds of seat- work, 
and should be encouraged to change his position for comfort 
and bodily rest. 

Other things needing constant surveillance are the drink- 
ing cup, towels, and toilets. The common drinking-cup 
is now almost invariably tabooed, because disease germs 
are easily transmitted by its use. The plan of having in- 
dividual cups is open to criticism, because they are not pro- 
tected from dust. When a bubble fountain cannot be pro- 
vided, each child should carry an individual drinking-cup in 
his lunch pail. The common towel is almost as objection- 
able as the drinking-cup, because of the possibiHty of con- 
veying skin diseases, and infection of the eyes and of the 
nasal cavities. While the laundering of many small towels 
would seem too much of a problem, paper towels have been 
found very satisfactory, or each pupil may bring his own 
towel and attend to the laundering of it. The unsanitary 
toilet is both a physical and a moral menace, and ought to 
be eliminated as rapidly as possible. 

Medical Inspection 
Medical inspection is a department of health education, 
and its object is to promote the happiness and the efficiency 



180 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

of the child by preserving and improving his health. There 
are several angles from which we may look at the matter of 
health for the school child: 

1. The individual child himself, and the man or woman he may 
become. The child is biologically the most important mem- 
ber of society, and should have the opportunity of developing 
into the best individual possible, with his given heredity. 

2. The patrons who trust their children to the school. They 
should see to it that the environment there is conducive to 
health of body, mind, and morals. 

3. The taxpayer, or the economic viewpoint. As a business pro- 
position the investment of moneys in the schools should yield 
the highest degree of efficiency in the lives of the boys and 
girls educated. This efficiency depends upon good health. 

Medical inspection includes a careful and thorough exam- 
ination of the physical condition of children. These exami- 
nations vary in thoroughness, but in a general way may be 
taken to mean inspection of nose, throat, skin, chest, joints, 
and feet; testing of vision and hearing; examination of heart 
and lungs; for the five primary physical defects are poor 
vision, nose and throat obstructions, deafness, decayed 
teeth, and poor nutrition. Boys and girls unable to breathe 
through the nose because of adenoids or enlarged tonsils 
frequently fail in their school work because they cannot con- 
centrate on the work assigned, and many an unthinking 
teacher has punished children for their seeming neglect when 
they were really not to blame. 

If a child be found free from all of these five primary phy- 
sical defects, he is hkely to remain strong through the school 
year. Where the work of a child is very poor, or his actions 
and habits so peculiar that his normality is questioned, a 
test of his mental powers should be made. 

As a result of improper schoolroom conditions, revela- 
tions have been made as to the profound influence which 
defects of the eyes, ears, nose, throat, and teeth have upon 




The Wrong Kind of School Toilet 

This is a ve.-y common kind, but not the right kind for a healthful school 
(From Healthful Schools, by Ayres, Williams, and Wood) 




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HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 181 

the general health, and ultimately upon the disposition and 
the conduct of a child. For instance, the direct effects of 
bad teeth are pain, at the expense of time and sleep, foul 
breath, and improperly chewed food, which causes poor 
nutrition and lessened resistance to disease. Decay of baby 
teeth often causes decayed or unsound and crooked perma- 
nent teeth, and may be the cause of infection of the glands 
of the neck, or of the jaw bone, or even infection of the mid- 
dle ear, causing deafness. 

The child that is anaemic may be found to be undernour- 
ished because of his inability to chew his food properly. 
Malnutrition is one of the most serious conditions found in 
children, and a careful investigation has shown that about 
eight per cent of the total number of children enrolled in 
school suffer from it. The poorly nourished child is usually 
below weight, thin, pale, and of a pinched facial expression. 
He does not always come from the homes of the poor; for 
the causes of malnutrition are poor food, bad air, and in- 
sufficient rest and sleep, — all of which are the exact oppo- 
sites of the primary requisites of health. 

Poor food has a variety of meanings. The food may be 
insufficient and the child half starved. Or it may be im- 
properly cooked — the frying-pan has ruined thousands of 
stomachs. It may not have the right ingredients — may 
lack green vegetables, or fats, or proteids. It may include 
tea and coffee, which are harmful stimulants having no food 
value at all. 

Lack of sunshine and fresh air will produce anaemia in 
children as surely as a plant will lose its color when placed in 
the same surroundings. Lack of rest and sleep is another 
contributory cause. A child from five to six years needs at 
least eleven to twelve hours of sleep. From six to eight a 
child should have ten to eleven hours of sleep; from eight to 
ten from ten to eleven and one haK hours of sleep; from ten 



182 HANDBOOK FOR RUR.\L SCHOOL OFFICERS 

to twelve from nine and a half to eleven hours of sleep; from 
twelve to fourteen from nine and a half to ten and one half 
hours of sleep, and from fourteen to sixteen nine to ten hours 
of sleep. If the child is getting less than this amount of 
sleep, according to age, if he has formed the habit of staying 
up late, he is not having a fair chance to grow and develop as 
he should. 

There should be on record the family as well as the per- 
sonal history of each child. The family history shows the 
nationality and the age of the parents, their health condi- 
tion, and the number of other children in the family. The 
nationality of parents helps us to know to what disease the 
child will have the least resistance. For instance, the South 
Sea Islanders succumb very easily to measles, because they, 
as a people, have but recently become exposed to this 
disease. The negro is not infected with malaria because 
of acquired immunity as the result of long exposure. His- 
tory of rheumatism in the life of the parents may explain 
nervous diathesis in the child. Every inquiry made into 
the hfe of the child or the parents has some good reason 
back of it. 

We might go on and show the seriousness of the different 
defects commonly found in school children. It is sufficient 
to say that they are serious, in that each one of them handi- 
caps the child in some way, and therefore retards his prog- 
ress at school. Retardation is a heavy expense, and any- 
thing a community can do to improve the child's ability to 
go through school at a normal rate is economy. The extent 
of retardation in schools of this country is on the average 
thirty-three and one third per cent of the total enrollment. 
This means that three out of every ten pupils leave school 
lacking a year or more of work which they should have had. 
The chief causes of retardation are late entrance, mental 
deficiency, irregular attendance, and physical disabihties. 



HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 183 

Children with defects make slower progress in their school 
work. 

Medical inspection must be constructive. The defect dis- 
covered, must, if possible, be corrected and the disease 
treated. In answer to the inquiry as to just how much may 
be accomplished, one can make no definite statement. In 
some instances provision may be made for free treatment in 
clinics or by specialists, when parents are unable to pay but 
are at the same time willing that the child should be helped. 
Nothing should ever be attempted without the permission of 
the parents. 

Medical inspection was first introduced into the school in 
connection with the work undertaken to control epidemics 
— contagious and parasitic diseases — and this still remains 
one of the important phases of the health program. The 
more frequent and serious infectious diseases are scarlet 
fever, measles, smallpox, chicken pox, tonsillitis, diphtheria, 
mumps, whooping cough, colds, persistent cough, trachoma, 
pink-eye. The detection of contagious or of parasitic dis- 
eases in their early stage is important. We no longer say 
that the child may as well have the children's diseases and 
have them over with, for we know that the younger the 
child the more far-reaching the effects of the disease, and 
that each year he escapes infection improves his chances of 
not having these diseases at all. 

We also know that the last few years have disclosed many 
of the carriers of disease, such as the mosquito, the fly, and 
the rat. Even the pet dog and the house cat may become 
carriers. The little girl who brought into the house a stray 
cat and begged permission of her mother to keep " this per- 
fectly good cat she found in the ash barrel" developed a crop 
of ring- worm in a few days. 

It is necessary to require children who have had any of 
these diseases to remain at home for some time, after ap- 



184 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

parent recovery. Parents sometimes fail to see the wisdom 
of this, but it may safely be said that while it is not safe for 
the school to have the httle convalescent back, it is equally 
true that such additional time is needed for a complete re- 
covery. Very often a child who has had diphtheria will be 
a "carrier" for weeks after his recovery. Healthy persons, 
who are able to resist invasion of the germs, may carry them 
in the throat or nasal passages and give them off to others 
who, because they are less strong, will come down with the 
disease. Prevention of infectious diseases is progressing 
very rapidly. Small pox has been marvelously conquered 
by vaccination. Typhoid fever is very greatly reduced, and 
the crusade against the fly is telling in favor of general 
health conditions. Against measles, mumps, whooping 
cough, chicken pox, and scarlet fever, no preventive meas- 
ures other than the time-honored ones of avoidance, isola- 
tion of the sick, and final disinfection have so far been 
discovered. 

Food inspection is already governed by Federal and State 
laws. No community should consider their children safe 
from tuberculosis until they have state-wide inspection of 
dairy and milk. Vegetables eaten without cooking, as let- 
tuce, celery, etc., can harbor disease germs if washed or 
watered with polluted water. 

Practical Hygiene 

When the health supervision or medical inspection is to be 
introduced, the initiatory steps are meetings of parents and 
patrons of the district at which some one may speak upon 
the matter of hygiene of the school. If the sentiment of the 
majority is in favor of some action, it is well to have some one 
present who is properly qualified to pass upon the condition 
of the school premises, and to make physical examination of 
the pupils. If possible, the parents should be present when 



HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 185 

their children are examined. A report of the condition 
should be made to the parents. The success of the move- 
ment, thus started, depends upon securing the right person 
to carry on the follow-up work by bringing the home and 
school together in considering the importance of the work 
as it pertains to the health of the children. This supervisor 
must be specially prepared for the work, and must have, 
in addition, the tact and wisdom in deahng with people that 
will make it possible for her to secure the cooperation of the 
parents and teacher. 

Rural communities are solving the problem by employing, 
for a number of schools, one person who divides her time 
among them. This, v/ith the cooperation of the teacher who 
reahzes her obhgation and has had training in caring for the 
whole child organism, is sure to prove a very effective plan. 
A number of the States have aheady provided special means 
to meet this need. 

The medical inspectors encourage, as a part of the health 
program in the school, the teaching of hygiene and the work 
of physical education. A valuable part of health education 
is the training of the pupils to feel themselves a part of the 
community, and therefore responsible for the protection of 
pubhc health. This social training is vital in all phases of 
school work, but particularly so in connection with hygiene. 
Hygiene is not a subject, and cannot be taught by talk- 
ing about health alone. Hygiene is a practical force, a 
method, a way of living; and we are trying to add to the 
moral code the right and duty to be healthful as well. If 
we take the matter of posture, which we have thought of as 
appearing well and as keeping straight, and consider it as 
the expression of a state of mind, then it can be understood 
how it comes to be the expression of wide-awake mental 
willingness to do, to he useful in the world. 

The ambition of a teacher who is teaching hygiene is the 



186 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

inculcation in the lives of the children in school of those 
habits of Hving, thinking, feeling, and doing th^-t will be 
for their good, so that later in life they may devote their 
conscious efforts to something less personal than thinking 
of their bodily condition. Health is not the end, but the 
means to the end of living happily and successfully in the 
circumstances in which we find ourselves. 

Everyone knows that the ways of acting, called habits, are 
easy to form and difficult to change. Habits are a great 
economy, carrying on most of our actions for us and leaving 
us free to think about other things. We should not progress 
far in this life if we had to think just how to take every 
step, or guide the muscles in the hand when writing. One 
noted authority has well said : 

There should be insistence in schools, as well as in the higher 
institutions of learning, upon the cardinal principle that the acqui- 
sition of good habits, and not of information, should be the final 
test of a successful education. Think of the remarkable gain to 
our civilization if children were taught fewer subjects, but were 
assisted to acquire good postural habits, were taught to breathe 
deeply, to speak without nasal twang, to eat slowly, not allowed 
to imitate the nervous habits of parents or teachers, nor to crystal- 
lize into permanent form the undesirable reactions induced by 
fatigue or protracted study in poorly ventilated rooms. 

It is because of the difficulty of changing our habits that 
we find people trying many artificial means for getting 
health. Health is one of the greatest blessings for the 
foundation for success and happiness, but it cannot be 
found at the drug store, nor the patent medicine chest. 
Neither may it be found in the city nor the country alone. 
The old idea of the superior healthfulness of the country has 
been overthrown by recent studies, as the chart on the 
opposite page well shows. There is even more need for 
health examination and hygiene teaching for rural schools 
than for city schools. 




40 



RO 



49.9% 



Defective Teeth 
30.0% 



Pediculosis 




Health Defects in City and Country Children Compared 

Compiled from a study of the health examinations of children in twenty-five American 
cities and of rural-school children in five American States. Only in- pediculosis (head lice) and 
in skin diseases do the city children show greater percentage of defects. 
(From Woofter's Teaching in Rural Schools, p. 299) 



188 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

Since the habits of hygienic hving must be formed in the 
early years of hfe, the school's first concern should be to 
make all activities of a healthful character. The child's in- 
terests parallel his awakening instincts, and the hygienic 
and effective method of teaching gives him just that knowl- 
edge for which he is ready at that time. Going over material 
the child already knows is usually not interesting and will 
cause him to try to find something that is of interest, even if 
it is classed as mischief. Giving tasks for which he is not 
ready is equally unhygienic. Lincoln once said, "The sen- 
sation of inadequacy to one's task is a source of acute suffer- 
ing and injury. In the muscles fatigue only passes into pain, 
but in the mind we feel the pain called depression of spirits 
when we are required to discharge mental function beyond 
our strength." In children the feelings are in a state of ten- 
sion and irritabihty rather than depression. Anything that 
gives rise to anxiety, apprehension, or aggravated feehngs 
of joy or sadness is unwholesome. Contentment should be 
the keynote of the schoolroom. Joy is good for mountain- 
top experience. The more the school activities take on the 
characteristics of directed play the more natural, hygienic, 
and efficient is the instruction. An unhygienic mental diet 
(faihng in interest because unsuited to the child) is probably 
the greatest cause of retardation and elimination. The 
greater part of those children leaving school in the grades do 
so because they find drudgery rather than interest in their 
required duties. They want to get away from school as a 
place in which they have failed. 

Teaching hygiene includes giving the laws of health and 
their justification, but this is for the sake of carrying them 
into action. The failure to bridge the gap between what we 
should do and what we really do grows out of the fact that 
we have the wrong habits and cannot easily change. If we 
wait until the pupil is old enough to study formal physiology 



HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 189 

and hygiene, and then expect the instruction to work out in 
terms of changed habits of hving, we shall be disappointed, 
for we are not proceeding psychologically. 

With the advance of civiHzation man has lost the instincts 
that formerly guided him in caring for himself, and this loss 
must be made good by training in intelHgent control of the 
Kfe. The work in personal hygiene in the school is primarily 
one of securing habits of personal cleanhness of body, teeth, 
and clothes; and cleanhness in handling material, eating 
lunch, and in the care of the desk and the room. Cleanli- 
ness of person and environment, together with clean play 
and vigorous work, will do much toward keeping the mind 
alert and the conduct wholesome. 

A very important adjunct to this is having the school 
plant sanitary and hygienic, so that the pupils may develop 
a sense of what is right, and be uncomfortable and dissatis- 
fied when the surroundings assume any of the characteris- 
tics of an unhealthful environment. The problem is to 
secure the practice in right hving that may become a fixed 
mode of response. 

Incentives used to get the child to come to school clean 
and to cooperate with the other pupils in keeping the room 
orderly will have to be those that appeal to him because 
they are on his plane. He is not interested in health — he 
is living in the present, on the physical plane — and a pleas- 
ant-tasting tooth paste will do more toward securing dental 
cleanliness than the portrayal of the miseries of toothache, 
or the display of a chart of perfect morals. A httle later the 
boy or girl will do what is desired because he wishes to please, 
and the appeal to the adolescelit is through his pride and his 
liking to appear well. The incentive must be the best possi- 
ble to get results. Some of the most fundamental things in 
education must be got indirectly, and this is particularly 
true of health instruction. 



190 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

The child who is trained to adapt himself happily to his 
environment is getting the habit of cheerfulness, the great- 
est of nerve tonics. Just as the physical condition of the 
organs of the body determines the moods or attitudes of 
mind, so the mental life stimulates or depresses the func- 
tioning of the cells of the body. The *' Great Stone Face" 
gives us a situation with much of the real portrayed, for we 
really tend to become like what we think. 

Moral hygiene has to do with improving conduct, with 
making the willed action social, rather than individualistic. 
Any part of the school activity, whether it be studying arith- 
metic, or playing at recess, is morally hygienic if the ideas 
acquired and the habits formed are such that they will help 
to decide in favor of right conduct. There is always a cry 
for moral training in the school. Because of the failure in 
the home and in the school of the past to give this training, 
we have had a setting apart of one part of the general hygiene 
for special study. That this failure should stand out more 
clearly in connection with the most vital and far-reaching 
influences in the life of the young is inevitable. When par- 
ents ta,ke up their responsibility to the child and give him a 
growing knowledge of himself, and the school ceases to slur 
over certain phases of the history of all hfe, then will sex- 
hygiene be unnecessary. All children receive training for 
thinking and judging about the most sacred things of life. 
The training is real in all cases, whether it be intelligently 
planned by parents and teachers, or is purely the result of 
the accidental environment of the child. The difference is 
one of kind. The first ten years of hfe is the impersonal age, 
and the time when facts of hfe are as natural as facts in geog- 
raphy. This is the golden opportunity for giving him the 
foundation of reverence for life, respect for rights of others, 
self-control, and the growing knowledge of himself to which 
he is entitled. 



HEALTH EDUCATION; MEDICAL INSPECTION 191 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What is the relationship between the body and the mind, as it be- 
comes apparent without scientific investigation? 

2. Should the public school in any way be held responsible for the health 
of our children? 

3. Which costs the nation most, physical debility or mental debility? 
4.. Does either the picture representing the "Man with the Hoe," or the 

poem with the same title describing the physical endurance of man, 
give the correct impression of labor as it is now regarded by our best 
citizens? 

5. Does the New Testament give any examples of man's body, mind, and 
heart working together in a harmonious relationship? 

6. Judging from your own experience, do you believe that the number of 
necessary physicians will increase or diminish, if health consciousness 
is made a part of a child's education? 



CHAPTER XXI 
CITIZENSHIP IN A DEMOCRACY 

To fall short in the required measurements for good citizen- 
ship is to lose just so much of life's opportunities. It is to 
fail in reaching the full stature of manhood or womanhood. 
It is to be lacking in the elements which insure to us the 
largest measure of happiness. We want our citizenship to 
have the highest regard for nature and nature's laws, to have 
an appreciation of the beautiful as well as the good. We 
want positive character expressed in every individual. We 
want honesty and truth as typical virtues shown forth in all 
of our associations and in all of our dealings. We must have 
honor as the underlying basis of our indi\ddual acts. And 
there ought to be a conscious recognition of the fact that we 
largely shape our own destinies through our choosing as our 
guiding influences the baser things in life or those repre- 
senting the nobler virtues. 

The responsibility of citizenship ever increases as the gov- 
erning powers are placed in the hands of the people. In a 
democracy all must share alike in the duties of formulating 
a "government of the people, for the people and by the 
people." Individual responsibility does not end with the 
exercise of the right of franchise. This is important and 
should be universally exercised, but the influences which 
bring about the decision of each voter who secretly voices 
his own sentiment when he places his vote in the ballot box 
represent conditions which have affected him both directly 
and indirectly for months and possibly for years. In other 
words his vote does not represent an immediate decision, 
but rather represents a conviction of long standing. In 



CITIZENSHIP IN A DEMOCRACY 193 

national affairs it may represent his political views rather 
than an individual choice. In such cases principles of gov- 
ernment take precedence over the personal representation. 
This is necessary because a knowledge of people through 
acquaintanceship is limited, and because we know men at a 
distance better through the principles they advocate than 
through their personal qualities. 

For local offices men are often supported because of per- 
sonal acquaintanceship. Voters have the opportunity of 
knowing directly of the candidate's ideas and ideals. The 
choice is determined more largely because of a knowledge of 
the candidate gained through association than because of 
party principles. So every voter finds himseK confronted by 
these two means affecting his voting decision. Both plans 
are partly right and both are partly wrong. It is not possi- 
ble for national principles to be carried on equally well by 
executives chosen even by the same political parties. Indi- 
vidual qualities of judgment, reason, decision, reliability, 
and honesty have much to do with determining an officer's 
worth. Most of us frankly acknowledge that all men are 
not endowed with the same power of comprehension, with 
the same abundance of foresight, with the same fundamen- 
tal conception of life and living. We know full well that 
through the violation of nature's laws man's mental vigor 
may be arrested or retarded just as his bodily vigor may be 
hindered by thoughtless violation. Then, too, success or 
failure is often determined by adaptation or the lack of it in 
connection with the work in charge. Using these things as 
the basis of our decision, we ought not to cast our ballots for 
any officer wholly because he represents a political principle 
in government nor wholly because he possesses likable quali- 
ties and has gained popularity through such. 

No democratic nation can ever recognize one man as su- 
perior to all others. This idea has passed away with the 



194 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

divine right of kings and with the autocratic form of govern- 
ment. But while we do not recognize any one man as su- 
premely superior, we do recognize that some men have bet- 
ter qualifications and larger adaptation for specific work 
than do others. This fact necessitates our choosing wisely 
the man to whom we delegate our power as a governing 
officer, who in turn must shape the policies best suited to the 
welfare of the whole people. If we allow prejudice to govern 
our choice, we are sure to reap the reward of our own follies. 
If we apply the highest principles in making our decisions 
— and still make a mistake — there is satisfaction in our 
honesty of purpose. But few mistakes will be made if every 
voter considers well his duty and recognizes his act as a 
sacred privilege. 

If we believe in liberty for all men, we also believe in 
equality for all men. We believe, too, that fraternity must 
become one of the trinity in our new democracy if we are to 
make this a safe governing process for an intelligent progres- 
sive nation. But each of these three terms needs to be de- 
fined in order to be understood. Liberty in an unrestricted 
sense means anarchy, means bolshevism. In its better sense 
it means *'The greatest good for the greatest number" with 
highest respect for the rights of the minority. Equality 
cannot mean and does not mean that all men are endowed 
by nature with equal physical strength, with equal mental 
power, with equal moral courage. It does mean that all men 
should be given an equal opportunity for development, for 
achievement, for service, for happiness. Fraternity does not 
mean that we should recognize in every man the same lova- 
ble qualities that we now recognize in our closest friends and 
companions. It does mean that we should respect each 
man's rights; that the strong should not take advantage of 
the weak; that the rich should not scorn the poor. It should 
recognize in each man potentialities akin to our own, and 



CITIZENSHIP IN A DEMOCRACY 195 

should desire to have his latent powers developed into the 
largest possible living force. It bespeaks our personal in- 
terest for all mankind and a desire for their best welfare. 

It has been truly said that a nation is characterized by 
the thought, by the actions, by the ideals of its citizenship. 
Equally well does this principle apply to the home and the 
members of the family, to the community with its united 
home influences, to the school with its close associations. 
Reasoning adversely, then, it may be said that a good school 
must represent a community of good homes. Or it may be 
said with the same degree of fairness that the school typifies 
in a large measure the ideals found in the home life and 
therefore stands as a criterion of what our nation ought to 
be. Good homes and good schools then are both fundamen- 
tally necessary to a good nation, and money rightly expended 
on either one ought to bring the largest returns upon the in- 
vestment. Every child should learn to love his home so well, 
and to respect his parents to such a degree that the cardinal 
principles of his life be formed about these early associations. 
The school home, too, should stamp in his hfe so much of good 
that his memory through the years will be surcharged with 
the vital interest of lasting value which came to him during 
this period of his life. 

Through these agencies the guiding principles of our citi- 
zenship are formed, but this is a small inner circle, and the 
youth of our country must quickly step outside of the influ- 
ences of these two organizations. The community adds its 
might, and within it there may be many influences for good. 
The church is probably the largest contributing factor of the 
community because it is organized with a very definite pur- 
pose in mind. Secret societies and lodges, too, are impor- 
tant because they offer social opportunities as well as a 
means of close cooperation. Public business of every kind 
has a bearing upon the complete environment, and may con- 



196 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

tribute in a valuable way to the complete setting of our com- 
munity's influences and interests. From all these sources 
then comes the complete education which must function in 
the life of every individual. 

The fundamental basis of government in a democracy de- 
pends upon individual understanding and individual think- 
ing. But we usually think of it as a great association of peo- 
ples, who in the aggregate initiate policies and determine all 
plans of procedure. We emphasize majority rule because 
in this we see an opportunity for every man to express his 
own personal wishes. This theory is correct in principle, but 
in practice it has not always given the results expected. 
The fault lies in the fact that one man often does the think- 
ing for a group and that public sentiment is often an out- 
growth of minority thinking. If we could always be sure of 
the unqualified integrity of our leadership, and could always 
have the assurance that this leadership would think and act 
in the interests of the whole people and not be swayed by 
selfish interests, then and only then would it be safe for the 
few to do the thinking for the many. But even if this could 
be assured it would not be advisable because a few leaders 
cannot make a great nation. 

Plutocracy as well as autocracy has failed to satisfy the 
needs of a progressive world. Democracy as it exists is in- 
finitely better than either of the old forms of government; 
but it has not yet realized its greatest potentialities because 
we still cling to some of the old traditions, and because we 
have not yet reached the place where individual thinking 
and individual decisions can be depended upon. 

The important question, then, is how can we secure ma- 
jority rule based upon majority thinking and understanding. 
For by so doing we shall be able to eliminate individual 
selfish motives. By this it should not be inferred that men 
ought not to cooperate, nor that they ought not to discuss 



CITIZENSHIP IN A DEMOCRACY 197 

matters fully and freely together for the purpose of arriving 
at a conclusion. These are the very things that we desire to 
have done in order that there be better understanding and 
greater cooperation. What we do want, however, is that 
each man shall investigate earnestly and honestly for him- 
self, and that his final decision be based upon intelligent un- 
derstanding and honesty of purpose representing the innate 
qualities lying within himself. In other words, we cannot 
have any considerable number of men of the "rubber stamp " 
type and still boast of our majority rule. Neither can we 
have men swayed by personal prejudices and selfish interest, 
dominate by means of position or of wealth the individual 
responsibilities incumbent upon each man of the whole Na- 
tion. All men's decisions are equal when measured by the 
power of their individual ballots. But the value of the final 
decision arrived at by the aggregate count of all the votes 
depends upon how intelligently and unselfishly each indi- 
vidual has considered the matter. 

Should we deny the possibility that all men of the Nation 
can be made personally responsible, then we have over- 
thrown the governmental principles of a real democracy. If 
we agree that this is necessary and yet acknowledge the fact 
that it has not been fully accomplished, we are compelled to 
make this achievement a necessity in the realization of our 
vision which would "make the world safe for democracy." 
Now that the last autocratic ruler has been forced to yield 
to the rights of the people, and that the intelligent nations 
of the earth have declared their implicit faith in democratic 
rule, we ought conscientiously to look forward to that 
greater democracy which must first abound in the minds and 
in the hearts of all of the people. For, indeed, democracy 
must first become a personal matter in order to have it work 
out through majority governmental control. 

It has been said before that literally men cannot be made 



198 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

altogether equal, but this does not bar the necessity of devel- 
oping all men to their individual highest degree, thus bring- 
ing them just as nearly as possible to the commonly accepted 
equality basis. We may not be able to change nature's 
laws, but we can change the conditions under which those 
laws operate, and in a manner to insure better results. This 
caniiot be overlooked when we consider the necessity of 
making such individual units in our plan just as strong as 
possible. Some one has said that the chain is no stronger 
than its weakest link, and we can apply this principle profit- 
ably to the links of the chain in our governmental control. 
Kipling has said in his The Jungle Book that the wolf is no 
stronger than the pack, and the pack is no stronger than the 
wolf. This is simply another way of making an analogy 
which governs the same principle, and it too may be applied 
to our proposition of individual development and its effect 
upon collective decision. If we are agreed upon the neces- 
sity for individual development, it then becomes necessary 
to turn to the means which we have at hand for bringing this 
about. It has been truly said that men are developed 
through education as metals are refined by means of the 
blast furnace; but, since much depends upon the proper heat 
of the blast furnace, so also does much depend upon the kind 
of education. So it is upon the kind of education that the 
emphasis should be placed. And in this connection it should 
be remembered that book knowledge secured in school is one 
of the fundamental bases of education, but it does not rep- 
resent the broad education which must be considered in 
this connection. In its largest sense this *' broad educa- 
tion" must have its beginning in infancy and ever increase 
through the years, gathering from every source the knowl- 
edge of greatest worth and applying it unselfishly to the 
principles of noble living. 

The ideal of our democratic education was recentl}^ well 



CITIZENSHIP IN A DEMOCRACY 199 

expressed in a resolution adopted by our National Educa- 
tional Association, which declared that: 

Education is the means through which democracy establishes 
social justice. In a democracy where majorities both think and 
rule, education, however fostered and guided by leaders, must be 
so directed as to meet the needs of all. The fact that we are 
rapidly approaching the time when the masses of the people will 
assume large control of the affairs of government emphasizes anew 
the responsibility of the public schools in a democracy. The pro- 
gram of education to meet new and increased demands must be 
comprehensive enough to promote the physical well-being of all 
citizens, to eliminate illiteracy, to teach the English language as 
the common means of communication, to fit all individuals for 
vocational efficiency and for the wise use of leisure, to cultivate 
democratic habits of social relationship, to develop in all a high 
sense of the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship, and to 
equalize and enrich educational opportunity throughout the 
Nation. 

When the masses are educated in accordance with this program 
there will be no danger to democracy from them and less danger 
from the idle rich and idle wise. The ideal of democracy is for the 
masses to work so well and think so clearly that their w^orking 
together and thinking together will form effective factors in orderly 
progress. 

In the working-out of such a system of American public 
education the rural and village schools of our land play a 
very important part, and the rural and village school trus- 
tees occupy positions of importance if they intelligently 
and efficiently perform their duties. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. State as briefly as possible the conception you have as to the meaning 
of citizenship as applied to free peoples under a democratic form of 
government. 

2. What different forms of government have the peoples of the world 
tried since the beginning of our historic record? 

3. What principles are necessary to maintain if the people are to have 



200 HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS 

equal rights in determining the policies of life, liberty, and the pro- 
tection of property? 

4. To what extent has the natural laws governing mankind's existence 
endowed them all equally? 

5. Enumerate all the organizations that you know of which promote the 
best things for civilization; and also make a parallel list of those which 
tend to lower our standards of citizenship or which create a distrust 
among free peoples. 

6. Distinguish between equality before the law under a democratic form 
of government, and individual inequality. 



APPENDICES 

1. LIST OF BOOKS FOR FURTHER READING 

Ayers, :May, Williams, J. F., and Wood, T. D. Healthful Schools. 
292 pp., illustrated, $1.50. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, New 
York, and Chicago, 1918. 

A simple and helpful presentation of the essentials as to school 
building construction, and the provision of a healthful environment 
for school children. 

Caeney, Mabel. Country Life and the Country School. 405 pp., 
illustrated, $1.50. Row Peterson & Co., Chicago, 1913. 
A very practical treatise on the rural-school problem. 

CuBBERLEY, Ellwood P. Rwal Life and Education. 367 pp., 
illustrated, $1.60. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, New York, 
and Chicago, 1914. 

A study of the rural-school problem as a phase of the rural-life 
problem. The first part of the book presents the new rural-life prob- 
lem which has developed within recent years, and the second part 
shows how this can be solved by so reshaping the rural school as to 
make it minister more fully than it now does to country life needs. 

Dresslar, F. B. Rural Schoolhouses and Grounds. 162 pp., 
illustrated. Bulletin No. 12, 1914, of the United States Bureau 
of Education. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, 
Government Printing Offlce, Washington, D.C., 50 cents. May 
also be obtained from Congressmen or Senators by writing. 

A well-written and illustrated book, describing the best in rural- 
school buildings, equipment, and grounds. Contains 44 plates, as 
well as many drawings. 

WooFTER, Thos. J. Teaching in Rural Schools. 327 pp., illus- 
trated, $1.40. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, New York, and 
Chicago, 1917. 

A very useful volume on the organization and management of a 
rural school, with simple statements as to the essential principles 
involved in teaching each of the common school subjects. 

All of the above books should be found in every rural-school 
library, for the use of teacher and trustees alike. 



202 APPENDICES 

2. SCORE CARD TO BE USED IN MEASURING 
SCHOOL SUCCESS 

This Score Card has been used by many County Superintendents 
in Washington in connection with their school visitation, and has 
proved very helpful to such school officers. It contains many sug- 
gestions that may prove useful to rural-school trustees in estimating 
ths efficiency of their school. 

I. Schoolroom appearance 

(a) Attractive Disorderly 

(b) Artistic Repulsive 

(c) Comfortable Uncomfortable 

(d) Well lighted Poorly lighted 

(e) Cleanly Uncleanly 



n. Personality of teacher 

1. General Appearance 

(a) Vigorous Weak 

(b) Well poised Nervous 

(c) Neat Sloven 

(d) At ease Embarrassed. 

2. Voice 

(a) Pleasing Harsh 

(b) Clear Indistinct . . . 

(c) Low High 



III. Spirit of schoolroom 

Does the teacher appear to 

(a) Stimulate Suppress 

(b) Be courteous Be rude 

(c) Encourage Nag 

(d) Cooperate Antagonize 

(e) Be firm Be weak 

(f) Be sympathetic Be harsh 

(g) Be tactful Be blundering. . . 

(h) Be strict Be lax 

(i) Be enthusiastic Be diffident . . . . 

(j) Be tempered Be irritable 

(k) Be quick to react Be slow to react. 



APPENDICES 203 

(1) Be reasonable Be unreasonable 

(m) Be quiet Be noisy 

(n) Be tolerant Be intolerant 

(o) Be systematic Be disorderly 

(p) Be dignified Be undignified 

(q) Be resourceful Be dependent 



IV. The recitation 

1. To what extent are pupils in class 

(a) Responsive Passive . . . . 

(b) Interested Indifferent 

(c) Energetic Lazy 

(d) Independent Dependent 

2. To what extent are pupils responsive 

(a) Fluent topical recitations 

(b^ Word or phrase responses 

(c) Single sentence responses 

(d) Incoherent responses 

(e) Failing to answer 

3. Pupils in room not reciting 

(a) Industrious .Indolent . . 

(b) Orderly Disorderly 



3. GENERAL RATING-SHEET FOR STANDARD 
RURAL SCHOOLS 

This General Rating-Sheet has been used quite effectively as a 
suggestive means, and has proved of value as a stimulus to activity 
on the part of many rural communities. 

I. School grounds 

(a) Entire premises must be sanitary and in good condition. 

(b) Schoolhouse and all auxiliary buildings must be in good 
condition and well painted. 

(c) There must be a good flagpole. Preferably on the 
grounds with flag flying. (Government regulations.) 

(d) Trees and shrubbery must be well pruned and cultivated. 

(e) Walks must be provided when necessary. 

(f) Premises must be fenced where stock are permitted to 
run at large. 

(g) For suggestions see chapters VI and VII and VIH. 



204 APPENDICES 

n. School buildings 

(a) Rooms used for instruction purposes must be properly 
lighted, heated, and ventilated. (See chapters VII 
and VIII.) 

(b) The interior should present a pleasing and artistic 
appearance. 

(c) There must be good window-shades well adjusted to light. 

(d) Window-boards for ventilation must be provided unless 
some other approved method is used. 

(e) Sufficient blackboard must be provided with good 
erasers. 

m. Necessary equipment 

(See chapters VIII and IX.) 

(a) Good desk and chair for teacher. 

(b) Single desks for pupils. Desks should be properly ad- 
justed and free from marks. 

(c) Stove, with jacket, properly situated or approved system 
of heating. 

(d) A large clock placed at the front of the room. 

(e) Suitable pictures properly framed and hung. 

(f) Maps, globes, and charts approved by the County 
Superintendent. 

IV. Desirable equipment 

(a) A good musical instrument — piano or organ preferred. 

(b) Small Victrola with well-chosen records. 

(c) An adaptable library carefully selected from books ap- 
proved by reliable authority. 

(d) Well-selected bulletins adapted to the community taken 
from the state and national lists. 

(e) Dust-proof cases for books and bulletins with loaning 
record giving specified rules. 

V. Sanitation 

(a) Proper drainage for all buildings. 

(b) Pure drinking-water, either fountain or covered tank and 
individual drinking-cups. 

(c) Sufficient lavatory facilities, with family or individual 
towels provided. 



APPENDICES 205 

(d) Good brooms and brushes for cleaning floors and win- 
dows. 

(e) Dusteen, Dustglow, or some approved dust-allaying ma- 
terial, provided for sweeping. 

(f) An eraser cleaner for blackboard erasers. 

(g) Separate toilets for girls and boys. Toilets should be 
sanitary and free from marks. 

(h) Dust cloths and mops for special cleaning. 

VI. Outbuildings 

(a) A teacher's cottage should be provided whenever it is 
difficult to secure good board and living in a private 
home. 

(b) A gymnasium or playroom should be provided when 
weather conditions in winter make it desirable. 

(c) A neat well-built shed should be provided for horses or 
for automobile if pupils find it necessary to provide 
conveyance to school. 

(d) A fuel room should be provided where fuel can be kept 
dry and ought to be built in connection with the main 
building, or means provided in the basement. 

(e) If outside toilets are necessary, they should be well 
built, placed on different portions of the grounds, and 
should each be provided with a shield. 

VII. Teacher 

(a) The teacher must have had special training in a teach- 
ers' institution, or must have had at least two years of 
experience and hold a First-Grade Certificate. 

(b) Must take interest in community activities as well as 
school work. 

(c) Must be neat in attire and orderly in habits. 

(d) Must maintain good order in the schoolroom at all 
times. 

(e) Must provide some means for organization of and su- 
pervision of playground. 

(f) Must have well-arranged program posted in the room 
so that it can be easily read by pupils. 

(g) Daily register must be kept neat, with all records ac- 
curately made. 



206 APPENDICES 

VIII. Pujnls 

(a) Pupils must show an interest in the regular work of 
the school. 

(b) Must take part in special exercises when requested. 

(c) Attendance must average at least ninety per cent for 
each term. 

(d) Tardiness must not exceed two per cent for the term. 

IX. Length of school year 

(a) School must be kept at least eight months during the 
year. 

(b) Means must be provided to keep buildings and grounds 
in wholesome condition during months school is not in 
session. 

X. Cooperation of patrons 

(a) School patrons must show their interest in the regular 
school year. 

(b) They must take part in the community activities or- 
ganized under the school's direction. 

(c) They must be willing to provide the necessities to make 
the school successful and progressive. 

(d) They must encourage wholesome leadership both in 
school and out. 

(e) They must be boosters always. 



APPENDICES 207 

4. STANDARD RATING-SHEET FOR RURAL SCHOOLS 

This Standard Rating-Sheet has been used in checking up and 
evaluating all the rural schools in a number of counties, and then 
by comparative study of the results determining lines of necessary 
action. Approved copies may be given to and posted in each 
school, so that each may see the points of strength and weakness. 

Name of School 

District Number 

Name of Teacher 

Date of Visitation 

Name of individual giving rating 

I. Grounds 

Maximum Points 
points allowed 

(a) Good sanitation and drainage 2 

(b) Trees and shrubbery well kept 2 

(c) Good flagpole with flag flying 2 

(d) Suitable plaj^ground apparatus 2 

(e) Sufficient ground for all play activities 2 

io 

II. Buildings 

(a) All buildings well painted and in good 

repair 5 

(b) Heat, light, and ventilation standard. 

(See chapter VII) 5 

(c) Inside toilets and outside toilets sani- 

tarj^ well kept, free from marks .... 3 

(d) Adjustable shades for all windows. . . 1 

(e) Interior attractive and artistic 2 

(f) Good janitor service (buildings 

cleanly) 2 

18 

m. Equipment 

(a) Single desks of proper size, one fourth 

number adjustable 4 

(b) Teacher's good desk and chair 2 



208 APPENDICES 



Maximum Points 
'points allowed 



(c) Well-kept blackboard having at least ^ 
twenty linear feet 2 

(d) Three large well-framed pictures of 
approved school tj^pe 3 

(e) Library chosen from approved book 
lists 2 

(f) Suitable maps, gloves, charts, pro- 
vided for the primary as well as the 
upper grades 2 

(g) Water fountain or covered water- 
cooler having spigot, and provided 
with individual drinking-cups 2 

(h) Lavatory facilities with family or 

individual towels 2 

(i) Musical instrument and provision for 

singing 2 

(j) Large wall clock 1 

22 
IV. The school 

(a) Each teacher with special training for 
her work 4 

(b) Not more than thirty pupils to the 
teacher 2 

(c) Teacher retained for more than one 
j^ear of service 2 

(d) Daily program posted in room so it 
can be read by pupils from seats .... 2 

(e) Teacher's manual and course of study 
on desk 1 

(f ) School visited by all of the directors . . 3 

(g) Homes of neighborhood visited by 
teacher 4 

(h) Cooperation of teachers and pupils . . 2 

20 
V. Community activities 

(a) Agricultural or industrial club work 
bringing the home and school into 
cooperation 4 



APPENDICES 209 

Maximum Points 
points allowed 



(b) Local school exhibit resulting from 
club work 4 

(c) Community meeting held in cooper- 
ation with the school 3 

(d) Hot lunch for the school planned in 
cooperation with the mothers of the 
community 3 

(e) Health education in cooperation with 
the homes _4 

18 

VI. Additional points which ought to be required 

Name each point definitely and separately 1^ 
Total 100 



5. SUGGESTIONS FOR COUNTY TRUSTEES' MEETINGS 
OR FOR COMMUNITY MEETINGS 

This list of topics has been used extensively in the work of the 
Cheney State Normal School with the rural schools of Washington 
and Idaho, and seems to contain practical and helpful suggestions. 

1. How can the County Physician assist the rural communities 
in their health problems? 

2. Is it important to insist upon Agricultural and Industrial 
work in all rural communities? 

3. How can school grounds be planted in a manner to make 
them artistic and at the same time usable? 

4. Are school revenues, as apportioned, equable for all classes 
of districts? 

5. How can an old school building be remodeled to meet the 
requirements of heat, light, and ventilation? 

6. Is it an economic advantage to furnish free textbooks to all 
the children of the district? 

7. When the school raises funds for entertainment, what may be 
considered legitimate uses for which money may be expended? 

8. What are the advantages of compulsory attendance, and how 
can this best be enforced? 



210 APPENDICES 

9. What number of months can the school be conducted with 
profit to the children and community at large? 

10. How can wholesome and beneficial community pride be 
aroused? 

11. How can effective team work be organized? 

12. What stimuli may be gained through local and county ex- 
hibit work? 

13. Is the present plan of taxing public service corporations 
equable to all districts? 

14. What is the best plan for making an annual school budget? 

15. Is it important to have one hundred per cent of accuracy in 
determining the school census? 

16. What is the best means of securing a special trained teacher 
for the school? 

17. When a Board Member is forced to work for a district, how 
compensated? 

18. What is the best plan for supplying the necessities for the 
school so that no delay will be encountered? 

19. Is it legitimate to use fuel, purchased by the district, for 
general gatherings aside from school work? 

20. What is the best plan for installing a modern water system 
on the school grounds? 

21. Are the present contracts equally binding to district and 
teacher? 

22. What improvements can be made to insure better health 
conditions in school? 

23. What use is made of all reports made by teachers and school 
trustees in the annual report of county and state superin- 
tendents ? 

24. Is there any way to estimate the real value of education to a 
community? 



INDEX 



Adaptation, 150. 
Administration; the unit of, 14. 
Administration versus supervision, 

127. -^ 

Advantages of Arbor Day, 48. 
Advantages of securing trained 

teachers, 52. 
Aim of manual-arts teaching, 162. 
Alhance of home and school, 119. 
Anaemia common among children, 

181. 
Annual budget system, 40. 
Apparatus, school, 80, 81. 
Application of knowledge, 159. 
Attractive school grounds, 45. 

Ballot-box means of expression, 192. 

Bids and contracts, 105. 

Birthright of child, 3. 

Bonds necessary to financing, 39. 

Budget system, 40. 

Building details, 63. 

Buildings, used for other purposes, 
30; and equipment, how to pro- 
vide them, 38. 

Calendar of official events, 103. 
Care of defective youth, 107. 
Carriers of disease, 183. 
Change in requirements, 4. 
Changes in school plans and policies, 

148. 
Child's social needs, 151. 
Child welfare, 176. 
Choosing or improving school sites, 

43. 
Church, imported agency, 152. 
Citizenship, intelligent, 1. 
Civic responsibilities, 2. 



Color scheme, 66. 

Combining associated subjects, 116. 

Combining courses for grade, 156. 

Common mistakes in organizing 
school boards, 25. 

Community topics, 209. 

Consolidation of rural schools, 134. 

Constructive criticism, 154. 

Coordination of study and work, 
149. 

Contracts, 105. 

County, unit of school administra- 
tion, 14. 

Criticism, 159. 

Curriculum well balanced, 158. 

Daily program, 109-17. 
Defective youth, 107. 
Defects cause retardation, 182. 
Developing aesthetic tastes, 85. 
District units, 15. 
Drinking-fountains, 72. 

Early education defined, 154. 

Eating, effects of hurried, 170. 

Education, evidence of worth of, 1; 
faith in, 2; explained, 4; evolution 
of, 134; must include, 153; and the 
growth of nations, 159. 

Efficiency, meaning of, 174. 

Facts, disclosed in school election 
records, 21 ; and interest combined, 
150. 

Family history, 182. 

Financing of schools, 35. 

Five primary defects of children, 
180. 

Fountain for drinking-water, 72. 



212 



INDEX 



Free government, 1. 

Furniture, harmonious effect, 85. 

Good organization, 26. 
Government inventory of educa- 
tion, 1. 
Gymnasium for school, 55. 

Habits valuable, 186. 

Health and work, 176. 

Health education, 176. 

Health supervision in school, 176. 

Home, responsibilities of, 16. 

Home study and health, 178. 

Hygiene made practical, 184. 

Joint responsibilities of home and 
school, 76. 

Keeping public records, 42. 
Keeping the register, 107. 
Keynote of manual training, 164. 
Knowledge applijed, 152. 

Lavatories, 72. 
Lawful contracts, 107. 
Life-story of school pictures, 90. 
Limitations of one-room school, 138. 
Local district tax, 37. 
Local welfare versus national inter- 
est, 130. 
Lunch-basket a necessity, 169. 

Manual arts, 163. 

Manual training, 161. 

Maximum efficiency, 103. 

Means for transporting pupils, 143. 

Means of political expression, 18. 

Men characterized, 193. 

Minimum time, 103. 

Mistakes of board members, 25. 

Moral hygiene, 190. 

Mothers' appreciation, 170. 

Nation, responsibility of, 11; how 
characterized, 195. 



National responsibility, 11. 
National use of school, 1. 
Need for larger subsidies, 7. 
Need for trustees' policy, 30. 
Normal school a training center, 95. 

Official forms, 108. 
Official regulations, 105. 
One-room school, limitations of, 138. 
Opening of school, 106. 
Opportunity, noon lunch, 171. 
Organization, 26. 

Parent-teacher movement, 121. 
Personal association, 120. 
Pictures for decoration, 89. 
Plan for hot lunch, 169. 
Plans, suggestive, 131. 
Poor food, 181. 
Pottery, its use, 92. 
Program for school, 110. 
Program of education, 199. 
Program of health work, 177. 
Public records, 42. 
Pure air ventilation, 67. 

Reception of teachers, 101. 
Recommendation for school, 125. 
Records, accuracy important, 42. 
Redirected education, 147. 
Remedies suggested, 23. 
Representative government, 18. 
Requirements changed, 4. 
Resources and finances, 35. 
Results from study, 161. 
Retardation, 182. 
Roads, an advantage, 131. 

School, its beginning, 3; how admin- 
istered, 8; inspection of, 31. 
School comforts, 76. 
School decorations, influence of, 86. 
School furnishings, 76. 
School grounds, 45. 
School officers, 25. 



INDEX 



213 



School opening, 106. 
Schoolroom decorations, 85. 
School site, improving, 43; size of, 

46. 
School spirit, 33. 
Score card, 202. 
Seat work, direction of, 117. 
Sense-training, 177. 
Social needs of child, 151. 
Standard rating sheet, 207. 
Standardization, 100. 
State Board, 13. 
State school officer, 13. 
Study and work, 149. 
Subjects alternating, 116. 
Subsidies, 7. 

Sunshine and sleep, 181. 
Support of education, 131. 
Surroundings of school, influence of, 

47, 48. 

Tax, local, 37. 

Teacherage or school cottage, 51. 

Teachers, influence of, 94; liow to 



secure goo<?., 97; social leaders, 

120. 
Toilets, 70. 

Transporting pupils, 143. 
Trustees' policy, 30. 
Type of work, 156. 

Units subdivided, 14-15. 
Use of buildings, 30. 
Usefulness, how determined, 164. 

Voting, 193. 

Voucher plan of payment, 41. 

Water-pressure system, 72. 
Welfare of child, 176. 
Work and study, 149. 
Work for girls, 166. 
Work of board, 25. 
Work organized, 165. 
Worth of education, 1. 

Year, length of. 111. 
Yearly calendar, 103. 
Youth, defective, 107. 



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DISCIPLINE AS A SCHOOL PROBLEM. 

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AN INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL SOCIOLOGY. 
By W. R. Smith, Kansas State Normal School. 

AN INTRODUCTION TO CHILD PSYCHOLOGY. 

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History of Education 

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PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

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MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING. 
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1926 a 



EDUCATIONAL TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS. 
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THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION. 

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A HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS. 

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THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL. 

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PROBLEMS OF CONDUCT 

BY 
DURANT DRAKE 

Professor of Philosophy^ Vassar College 

An Introductory Survey of Ethics 

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always in a concrete sphere of life as we daily 
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method and matter." 



PROBLEMS OF RELIGION 

BY 
DURANT DRAKE 

THIS book, like Professor Drake's Problems 
of Conduct, represents a course of lectures 
given for several years to undergraduates of 
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survey of the field, such that the man who is confused 
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way to stable belief and energetic action. 



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HOW TO STUDY 

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TEACHING HOW TO STUDY 

By 

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VOCATIONAL PREPARATION 

THE VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE OF YOUTH 

By Meyer Bloomfield 
A monograph by the former Director of the Vocation Bureau of Boston. 

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A first-hand presentation of the meaning and work of the vocational guidance 
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CHOOSING A VOCATION By Frank Parsons 

This book is an indispensable manual for every vocational counselor. 

THE PROBLEM OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

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NEW^ issues IN THE 

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For the Grades 

Aldrich's Marjorie Daw and Other Stories. No. 265. 

Antin's At School in the Promised Land. No. 245. 

BuRRouGHs's The Wit of a Duck, and Other Papers. No. 259, 

221-srTNG's Tales from the Alhambra. Adapted by Josephine Brovrer. 
No. 260. 

Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child should Know. Part I^ 
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MuiR's The Boyhood of a Naturalist. No. 247. 

Sharp's Ways of the Woods. No. 266. 

Wiggin's Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. No. 264. 

Selections for Reading and Memorizing. Grades I- VIII. Seven 
volumes, Nos. FF-MM inclusive. 

For High Schools 

BosWELL's The Life of Johnson. Abridged. No. 248. 

Clarke's A Treasury of War Poetry. No. 262. 

Liberty, Peace, and Justice. (Documents and Addresses I776» 
1918.) No. 261. 

Keller's The Story of My Life. No. 253. 

Palmer's Self-Cultivation in English. No. 249. 

Peabody's The Piper. No. 263. 

RiCHARDs's High Tide. An Anthology. No. 256. 

For Colleges 

Howells's A Modern Instance. No. 252. 

Lockwood's English Sonnets. No. 244. 

Rittenhouse's The Little Book of American Poets. No. 255. 

RiTTENHousE's The Little Book of Modern Verse. No. 254. 

Shepard's Shakespeare Questions. No. 246. 

Sheridan's The School for Scandal. No. 250. 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Piers the Ploughman* 
No. 251. 



Houghton Mifflin Company 

1940 



AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IN THE UNITED 
STATES. Revised Edition. 

By William B. Guitteau, Ph.D., Superintendent of Schools, Toledo, 
Ohio. 

This book fully covers the problems of American Democracy. 
It gives an adequate knowledge of the various forms of government, 
local, state, and national, emphasizing the practical activities in 
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citizens they will be most concerned. 

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IN THE UNITED 
STATES. Briefer Edition. 

Bjr William Backus Guitteau. 

This book meets the requirements of high schools limiting the 
work in civics to less than a year. 

PREPARING FOR CITIZENSHIP. 

By William Backus Guitteau. 

This is an admirable textbook for the upper grammar grades, or 
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CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES, 

By John Fiske, LL.D. New Edition, witli additions by D. S. Sanford, 
Head Master of the Sanford School, Redding Ridge, Conn. 

AMERICAN IDEALS. 

Edited by Norman Foerster and W. W. Pierson, Jr., University of 
North Carolina. 

This collection of representative essays and addresses of our most 
eminent statesmen and men of letters reveals the broad foundations 
from which our national ideals have sprung. 

AMERICANIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP. 

By Hanson Hart Webster. 

Important and distinctive features of tliis book are: — (i) the 
Catechism upon the United States Constitution ; (2) the statement of 
the principles underlying our government ; (3) the explanation of the 
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